Bad Blood
by Kuja and Lomesir
Summary: They say, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” After surviving the apocalypse brought about by Raven's prophetic life, can the Teen Titans survive another dark, contemptuous battle in the demon underworld seeping into Jump City? :RS, OC Pair:
1. Meat Fork

**Bad Blood**

A Teen Titans fanfic by Keiko13 & Lomesir

Summary

_They say, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." When Jump City's nightly streets suddenly become more dangerous than ever before, Robin and the other Titans in the West and East must investigate to find the source of the demonic happenings plaguing the people of their city. After surviving the near-completed apocalypse brought about by Raven's prophetic life, can the Teen Titans survive another dark, contemptuous battle in the demon's mafia underworld seeping into Jump City? _(OC Pair, R/S)

**Authors' Notes** - This is a joint fic, everyone! Hope you guys enjoy! We're both working hard to write up this fanfic without having any mess-ups. Lomesir covers the Titans, and I often cover the OCs. Have a fun time! And don't worry, Raven/Beast Boy fans and Robin/Starfire shippers will be happily catered to. I'm sure this won't be as big a hit as _These Black Eyes_ (which I admire for its long-standing run and massive amount of chapters!), but I hope it's still sufficient. Thanks a bunch, and drop a review on your way out! No flames, please.

Keiko

* * *

Chapter 1

"Meat Fork"

Robin looked up at the glowing moon, its light becoming fuzzy every few seconds. "The End" had taken its toll on him and his friends; he lacked at least four days of sleep. His vision was always the first to go.

Beast Boy poked his shoulder none too lightly when he began to slump forward on his feet. The jet-haired teen superhero rubbed at his eyes through the trademark mask he always wore and grumbled sleepily.

"Dude, you won't be able to track the baddies if you're sleeping on them."

Robin responded with a potent, angry glare. Beast Boy looked in the other direction and whistled to himself. Raven sighed heavily.

"Robin, I know we're all really tired, but if we hurry up and try to get at least a slight lead, maybe we can go home early and catch some rest." Starfire was now the one yawning and stretching her arms. It became the first time anyone ever heard her cracking her shoulders and neck, which turned some heads. Cyborg checked the watch built into one of his arms and snorted.

"God! Two-frickin'-thirty AM. I don't care if I charged up or not, I'm feelin' for y'all." Not a moment sooner after he spoke, a bell was heard confirming he was right, chiming on the half-hour mark. That only made everyone more sleepy. The only thing to wake them up were the blinding headlights from a police car, which turned off after it parked silently near them. Raven looked down at the body of a scandalously dressed young woman seemingly thrown against the alley wall. There were no marks of a struggle and no signs of rape, and little clues to a motive, but what caught her was the mark on the prostitute's neck.

One of Jump City's many police officers on the force came out with a gun strapped to her hip. She had her curly black hair held back in a ponytail, and her cop hat was cocked to one side. Her badge, which she assumed she had to show to the Titans, read Janet MacLean. Janet didn't appear to be surprised that the Teen Titans were on the scene, nor did she seem to take it to a negative reproach. They saw this as a good sign.

"What's the play-by-play?" she questioned. Remembering some things he'd picked up from his previous training as a sidekick, Robin checked over the scene, bending down and inspecting the body. Raven leaned against the wall and drew up her hood slowly, indicating she needed to think. While she wasn't as anal with her friends now, they knew well enough to let her alone.

"The carnage is way too clean. There's not a drop of blood anywhere." reported Robin, standing up on his feet again. Beast Boy was chewing on his bottom lip.

"It's like lookin' at a horror movie!" he said. Janet whistled.

"_Some_body doesn't like the ho stroll around here." she mumbled to herself. "That _is_ unusually clean. No way an amateur pulled this off..._if_ it was human at all." Janet wasn't entirely unaware of the strange happenings in Jump City, since most of the Titans' showdowns were always broadcasted through Internet news (they had requested very early for there not to be video camera interference from the news networks).

However, the sentence "If it was human at all" made Beast Boy's eyes light up—though not in a happy, bubbly, "Let's go to the newest amusement park" kind of way.

"It was a vampire!" he gasped, smacking his fist into an open palm. "Dudes, I _know_ it was! I mean, look at the neck mark! It's like someone stuck a meat fork in her jugular!" He paused and revised the sentence, and then shuddered. Janet blinked and raised an eyebrow, while the Teen Titans all gave him strange glances. Raven said nothing, but Starfire scratched at her bright red hair.

"I don't think a vampire did this, B." Cyborg said calmly.

"Perhaps the lack of sleep has clouded your judgment, Beast Boy," Starfire suggested. "Is it not correct that these 'vampire' creatures are only fictional things of your world's books?" Beast Boy held up a correctional finger.

"_And_ movies!" he added.

"Of which you watch too many." retorted Raven, which earned her a pair of narrowed eyes and a pout from the shapeshifter.

"How can you deny it? The proof's right there! The suckhead probably came along and drained her dry!" He raised his arms as if in the middle of a revolutionizing speech. "I mean, how do you think all the color stayed inside the lines?" He pointed at the dead body while Janet and Robin crossed their arms simultaneously.

"Look at it! Just _look_ at it!" He raked his fingers through the air. "This is _classic_ Bram Stoker, guys! This would be the _gold_ of Hollywood! The dude was probably some big organization guy who's like, got it in for humans!"

Cyborg shook his head. "B, you should've stopped five sentences ago."

"Vampires aren't real, honey." Janet said. Beast Boy jumped at the term of endearment and stiffened. "You been stayin' up watching too much _Blade_?"

"Knowing Beast Boy, he's just been watching too much, period." Robin said in a grunt. He ran his fingers through his hair. "We have no idea who did this. Sorry, Janet. We'll try to work on it tomorrow."

"Well, no, no!" Janet held up her hands in a calming gesture. "Y'all look like you should get some shut-eye. I'll pull out the precinct, and we'll take over the case, okay? You guys just worry about catching up on that sleep you missed."

Robin knitted his brow together and wore a classic look of worry on his face, always being the one to think about his line of duty. Janet gave him a friendly touch on the shoulder, smiling.

"The world can do without superheroes for a few days. The police can still handle ourselves, you know," she pointed out, teasing with the last line. Starfire came up and hugged Robin's arm.

"Please, Robin? You need rest most of all."

Raven let her eyes slide half-shut in personal sarcasm. _Where's _my_ parade?_ she wondered. There was a silence among the group until Cyborg stretched.

"Let's go home, y'all." He smirked, flashing his teeth, "I'll make my famous waffles in the morning!" The joke invoked not even a single chuckle, so the oldest of the Titans let it drop like a rock without question. "All right, all right. Maybe it's still a lil' early to be talkin' about waffles."

"Evil beware." Raven said, taking a rimshot at a line she recalled saying a while back. It made Cyborg cheer up a little bit.

"Okay, okay. Thanks, Janet." Robin said, giving a nod to the police woman. Janet patted the teenager's shoulder.

"Rest up good, Robin. Have a nice night."

"Morning," echoed most of the Titans, making Janet chuckle as she called in for a body bag.

The Titans all began to depart. However, just before Robin mounted on his motorcycle, he looked over his shoulder and saw that Beast Boy was still staring at the long-dead victim, head bowed, mouth moving incoherently. He strained his ears to listen, and found he was still too tired.

"Beast Boy!" he shouted. The green-skinned teen looked up, spaced out in the moment. "Let's get going!"

"Um...right." Beast Boy immediately shifted to the form of a red-tailed hawk and joined his comrades in the flight back to Titan's Tower. As they went off into the distant twilight dawn that would rise in a few hours, Janet reviewed the crime scene and puckered her lips. There was definitely something bothering her about the attack. It looked almost willing, due to no signs of an argument, but the method of death escaped her. The victim was completely white, her skin robbed of pigmentation. Something was wrong with that.

* * *

His sight was blind, but his ears heard clearly the roar of a motorcycle passing him by, followed by the screech of a bird-like creature and several other, larger flying creatures. He opened his mouth and screeched as this happened, and the echoes bounced back to him to give him a clear picture of the mobile bodies of the Teen Titans. The little vampire bat flapped his wings and fluttered rapidly into the nearest alley, then dropped as if dead.

A shadow appeared to grow larger; the wings magnified and billowed down to the dirty ground, connected to the fingerless arms of a trenchcoat stained all black. With a button just above the young man's exposed, flat stomach, he stood up and revealed a white cross on the midriff zip-up top he wore underneath to match his black, loose jeans and leather boots. Crimson-red eyes peered out into the night with vision humans would die to obtain.

"The famed Teen Titans." he said to himself. His black-painted nails suddenly shot out to four times their normal length, and he stabbed a spider crawling on the alley wall beside his head. Opening his mouth, he bared a pair of thick, long fangs behind his canine teeth.

"This is going to make my hunts a lot harder..."

* * *

At noon the next day, Beast Boy was reviewing the latest publishing of _Interview With A Vampire_ when he heard a knock on his room's door at the Tower. He lifted his head.

"Who'zat?"

"It's me." a dead-pan voice said quietly. Beast Boy paused before he flipped the book upside-down on his bed to mark his place and hopped down from the top bunk, welcoming Raven into his not-so-clean dwelling. Raven only tried to step over the cheesy pizza at the entrance.

"You should clean up." she said blatantly. Beast Boy blinked.

"That's it?" he wondered. Raven gave him an "isn't it obvious?" expression, and the shapeshifter nodded silently. To what, he had not a clue, but he shut the door behind Raven.

"What's on your mind?"

Raven cleared a relatively clean spot for her to sit on the bottom bed and settled there. "I've been thinking about that murder scene from the other night." she admitted, which caught Beast Boy's immediate attention. Raven gazed at her lap as she looked over her words. "I checked the background of the mark. The bite, the unusually clean bloodshed...or, the lack thereof..." Beast Boy put his hands on his hips.

"And?" he pressed, more serious than he normally was. Raven peered at him, hoping he wouldn't suddenly shout and try to randomly hug her for her answer.

"...I think you may be right."

Beast Boy was uncharacteristically quiet now, but his eyes suddenly lit up and began to sparkle, and a grin played around his mouth. She tried to ignore it, but the warning signs kept coming back.

"It's possible that a vampire had attacked that girl the other night."

"I _knew_ it!" he cried, borderlining a squeal as he tore through his room looking for something as he talked. Raven watched him with a stony expression. "The bite, the lack of blood, the pale skin, I knew it, I just _knew_ it! I mean, it had to be a vampire! And I'll bet you anything she's not dead, too! You know that if a vampire bites you you'll get turned?"

Raven's face didn't change. "Don't be so sure." she growled. "That girl was most definitely dead." Beast Boy shot her a wide-eyed look.

"Are you kidding? How can you know more than _this_?" He whipped out a thick, hand-held notebook filled with chicken-scratch pen notes on vampires, dhampirs, and anything associated with all things _Dracula_. Raven didn't even leaf through it before her eyes lifted over the edge of the binding, and she croaked,

"You can't be serious."

"It's all true!" Beast Boy insisted. Raven plucked the tiny book out of the young one's hands and pulled out the first page, reading over the front and back. She glared at him.

"Vampires exchange blood with their victims. It's not an instant turning."

Beast Boy opened his mouth to protest how Raven could possibly know, stopped, and closed his trap before he could snap it on his own hand. Raven gave him the page back.

"Most of what was at the crime scene was a classic nightly hunting. Vampires don't _have_ to feed on humans, but they consider them the main food source. Whoever attacked the prostitute must be a very greedy vampire."

"Why, because he sucked her dry?" asked Beast Boy, who was, again, surprisingly serious. Raven nodded.

"Traditionally, it's a gluttony to take more than what's needed to quench a vampire's thirst. It's like the 300-pound humans you see gorging on pancakes at the local IHOP."

Beast Boy groaned. "How many times do they hunt, exactly?" he questioned, not trusting his own knowledge now. Raven sighed.

"Statistically, those who have recently reached puberty hunt every night, since they are Newborn. The more experienced can go for days without a serious hunt for food—four to five at maximum." Beast Boy poked his fingers together.

"What would you consider a 'more experienced hunter', do you think? Like, eighteen?"

Raven paused, frowning. "...I'm not entirely sure. The books I have on the subject are vague at best."

"Reason why I was asking is 'cause I think I know the age of the attacker." Beast Boy said. Raven now raised her head curiously.

"Speak," she invited.

Beast Boy grinned, proud of his recent achievement. "According to my oh-so-extensive intelligence," he bragged, whereby Raven groaned as he went on, "I'd say our perpetrator is at least nineteen or twenty years old."

"How do you know that?" Raven questioned. "There's no definite way to tell a vampire's age. They're immortal beings."

Beast Boy snapped his fingers, still smirking. "That's where you're wrong!" he stated matter-of-factly. "See, I did some research on the Internet, too. And a really positive source I came across said how you can tell the general age group, human-ish scale."

"What's the source? Do I want to know?"

Beast Boy shook his head "no". Raven dropped the question as her friend took up a seat beside her.

"See, they said all vampires got fangs, which is obvious. And you can tell how good a hunter they are by the appearance of the bite. Like, a 'Newborn' kid, like you mentioned, would have thicker fangs that are a little closer together and are pretty blunt. A really _good_ vampire would have a set of fangs that were super sharp and super thin. They could be further apart, too."

Raven crossed her arms, still paying attention. Beast Boy tilted his neck and tapped at the spot where the victim had been bitten as a hint.

"The mark had really wide placing of the fangs, and it was a clean hit. No tearing or digging in like a Newborn might have to."

"At least that narrows down the appearance of the age," Raven mused. "That's not bad, Beast Boy. You actually caught something." Beast Boy grinned again.

"Now you just have to tell Robin."

Beast Boy stopped. "...Can I mention the vampires?"

Raven smiled slightly. "Why don't you let _me_ take care of that." she said. "It might be a little better that way."

"Cool! Vampire hunting! It'll be just like _Van Hellsing_!"

Raven gave Beast Boy a quiet stare. "I liked you better when you were serious."

Beast Boy pouted. "I _am_ serious!" he insisted. "What, a guy can't joke once in a while?"


	2. Descent

Chapter 2

"Descent"

She heard her high heels click against the very edge of the building she stood on and adjusted the cloth that hung from her mini-skirt, over a pair of pantyhose tucked into her wide-ankled boots. Clutching a large, thin box in one arm with a heart on the front with spades at the four corners, Diamond Finesse looked down on the streets and surveyed the open area. The moon was beginning to wane tonight, but there was still enough light that she didn't need technical aid.

She fixed the tight-fitting white sleeve she wore on her right arm, flicking away what draped over her left from the wide-sleeved fixture there. The top of her "superhero" outfit consisted of a silkish material draping over the front from a black spade in the center of her chest, linked by a pearly chain to the choker around her neck. That all was over a body-fitting, neat-woven material covering her chest, midriff to her stomach with a low-dipping collar. Her short, black hair slicked back on her skull, the only pieces of hair in her way were the tendrils in front of her eyes.

Finesse crouched down and opened up the card box she carried, pulling out a red-colored poker chip.

"All right, you little sucker," she said to herself as she clicked a small button to activate a tracker, "Let's see where you're hunting tonight."

No sooner had she begun to track down her victim did she see Jump City's famous protectors pass her by. She narrowed her pale, green eyes and sneered.

"Could've done without the competition," she revised. "Damn troublesome."

Diamond Finesse opened the card box that she had slung around her waist and fixed her standard 52-card set into the box, along with the poker chips she carried being in a separate pouch on that same belt. Her larger, thinner box detached in two pieces, and she carefully applied them to match the footprint dentures to her heels. There was a click indicating they would stay in place.

She jumped down from the building head-first as she activated the thin jets built into the two box pieces, and flew away. It would give her more mobility, and she eyed the poker chip that was flashing white in her hand. The faster it bleeped, the closer she got. Beating the Titans would be a problem—they had the head start.

* * *

Mounted on his trademark bike, Robin gave a layout of the plan they had to catch their vampiric perpetrator. After Raven's report to them the other day, he was sure there was a way to track this creature and kill it, or at least interrogate it to see if it had friends. Friends were not what they wanted.

"Okay, the newest victim was attacked at the docks! We'll split up and do a clean search of the area! If any of you find anything suspicious, report it immediately and we'll meet up to try and capture this thing! Remember, don't let it bite you!"

The other Teen Titans voiced their understanding before reaching the docks and splitting in four directions. Robin took the straight path, while the others took sideways and backtracking paths.

The Teen Titans searched the dock high and low for almost an hour until their communicators cried a signal for a report. Raven was the one to appear on the screen.

"South side of the docks, making his way to the back alleys. I'll trail him and keep you updated on his status when necessary."

"Affirmative," Robin replied through his communicator. "Good job, Raven. We'll be there as soon as possible."

Raven tucked away her communicator and eyed the tall, black shadow taking its meal from a male victim. The vampire's face turned sideways, but she still couldn't see his face, which was veiled by thin strands of stringy black hair. It spoke a language that sounded Slavic before gently knocking the victim unconscious, attacking a sensitive bundle of nerves in the neck. At least now she could determine the general ethnic descent of the vampire and try to get a clearer grip on its possible powers.

The vampire paused in his movements. He looked to be the age Beast Boy described; from the back, at least. Suddenly, he turned around, becoming sensitive to the thought of a follower, and she hid herself behind the wall. Straining her ears to listen, Raven heard footsteps approaching closer and closer.

Just as the nocturnal creature turned and looked down the streets, Raven phased through the wall with her soul self to the top of the building and watched. This time she had a slightly clearer picture of his face. A flat nose, a sharp chin, and piercing red eyes. He wiped a clean trail of blood from his mouth and sunk back into the alleyway, then leapt up, unbelievably reaching the building just across from her.

"That was some impressive shadow magic you used, but it's stupid to use it if it won't serve its purpose."

Raven stood up. No purpose in running if the jig was up.

"It's not shadow magic," she growled, "But it will be enough to stop you."

The vampire turned around and stared her down in the face, smirking before leaping over to her own building. He stood and put his hands on his hips, revealing the wing-like attachments to the sleeves of his long, black trenchcoat.

"Bitch. You need silver to hack my head off." he boasted. Raven ignored the name-calling, glaring at the vampire from under her hood. He laughed at her.

"Your voice is distinctly accented. Romania?"

He scoffed, "Russia." In his heavy Slavic accent, he added, "Those conservative Ancients in Romania haven't been alive for centuries." Raven shifted into a stance to attack just in case she should have to defend herself.

"Why travel so far to conduct your hunts?"

The seemingly teen-aged vampire lifted a single, thin eyebrow. He smirked, revealing his fangs. They were definitely very sharp.

"Where I go, I go."

"But even in its present economic state, Russia should have a plentiful population for you to feed on." Raven argued. The vampire chuckled.

"Oh, you'd be surprised." He moved his neck and head in a liquidated motion, licking his exposed fangs. "We are more numerous than you think. You could say that our kind must soon require a migration, though our Elders believe to remain with our roots is the best course of action."

Raven secretly prepared to try and weaken this vampire who stood in front of her, to ease the capture for when Robin and the others arrived. The nocturnal hunter crossed his arms, looking puzzled.

"I am unfamiliar with the general..._customs_ of this country."

Raven arched an eyebrow under her hood. "Oh?" she piqued. Her enemy nodded, sighing.

"Yes, is it...is it such a common tradition to bait one such...'_attacker_' as myself? Because you must not be working _alone_, by the way you are luring me to..._monologue_..."

Raven paused. "...I underestimated you, vampire." she admitted. "But that won't make a difference!" And at that moment, she lifted up her arms and shot her hands out to throw a quick-attack spell at him which required no chanting. A blast was seen as well as heard, but Raven was shocked to suddenly lose track of the creature's position. She tried to pinpoint her enemy, and only found her head jerking left and right, and her body moving in alternating circles.

Arms clutched Raven from behind, yanking her against a solid body.

"Underestimated me..." the vampire snarled. Raven yelped a sudden cry when a sharp sting of pain etched under her skin at the muscles between her neck and shoulder. She felt blood rushing to the spot, and instantly knew what was happening. She attempted to struggle once, and her enemy presented a surprising show of strength to lock her into a stiff position that would give her no upper hand. The vampire was done after exactly three seconds, and let drops of Raven's blood drip onto her clothes before licking his fangs. He threw her to the ground, and he saw her face.

"...More than you think."

Growling and bleeding from her wound, Raven attacked again, and missed again. She thrust her body forward from the ground, only to find nothing. Once more, she scanned the immediate area, but found nothing. She had lost the perpetrator and had also been bitten. Raven felt over the two freshly-pierced holes in her skin that had broken through the material of her outfit, and rubbed the drops of blood between her fingers.

"Raven, what happened?" Raven turned her head on the streets to find Robin and the others finally arrive. She held her hand over the bite wound, applying some pressure to the seeping blood. Robin jumped off of his motorcycle. "Where's the vampire?"

"I...I lost him. He was too fast."

"Too fast?" questioned Robin. "What did he do?"

Beast Boy shapeshifted to his human form. "He might have accelerated speed or something," he suggested. Raven nodded.

"That must be it. Whatever the case, I couldn't keep him here."

"It's okay. We lost him tonight, but we'll get him tomorrow." Robin said. He saw Raven's hand on her shoulder and frowned, walking up to her. "Let me see. Did he bite you?" Some pairs of eyes widened at the thought. Raven sighed and removed her hand, showing the bite. Beast Boy went crazy.

"Oh, my God! That's great! Just great! Now Raven might turn into a vampire, too!"

Starfire gasped. "Please say it is not true, Raven!" she cried. Cyborg stonily waited for the answer.

"Raven, do you think you'll be okay?" asked Robin, keeping a cool and level head. Raven nodded.

"He didn't take enough to harm me. Only a sip's worth, if anything. But he shouldn't have bitten me in the first place..."

"Hey," Robin said, patting her shoulder, "You said yourself he had some sort of accelerated speed. There's no way we could have known that. At least now we know we'll have to be more careful when we fight him."

"So are you going to turn, Raven?" asked Beast Boy, rushing up to her. "Didn't take a lot? Didn't make you drink his blood? Didn't weaken you or something?"

"I said I was fine." Raven repeated. "If he had done something I was concerned about, I would have elaborated on the bite." Beast Boy still stared at her with worry sketched in his features, checking her over himself to reassure his assumptions. Starfire took Raven's answer as a good sign and sighed with relief.

Cyborg clicked his tongue. "Damn, how old do you think this thing could be? You know, bein' that it's immortal an' all."

"What'd he look like when you saw him?" Beast Boy asked. Raven thought back on the face of her attacker.

"...At least seventeen, maybe eighteen. He was definitely the one who's been attacking everyone lately." Beast Boy pumped his fist in the air.

"Yes! Score! We've found our perp!"

"He was a vampire with Russian descent." Raven continued. Cyborg crossed his arms.

"So what's that mean for us?"

Raven drew her cloak around her body. "It means he may be from a very long line of vampires, which means he'll be much more powerful than we think. He might still have some abilities we don't know about."

"Like?" asked Robin. Raven shook her head.

"I'm not sure. Speed enhancements, sight enhancements, shapeshifting abilities...those are some definites. Vampires that are from a Slavic bloodline tend to pass on the ability to transform into a bat during the daylight hours, but only to the males. Even then, it could be a wild guess. I've read in some more recent scriptures that the power to shapeshift is becoming harder and harder to find, simply for the fact that the vampires are beginning to adapt to their modern surroundings."

"That'll be enough information for now," Robin said. "We'll go at it again tomorrow night, when the trail can still be fresh. As soon as it gets dark."

Cyborg's vision turned to the alleyway when he heard a weak groan. He was surprised to find the victim stirring.

"Hey! We got a live one here!" He approached the waking teenage boy, and tilted his neck. Cyborg looked up at Robin when the others came to check it out.

"Not surprised to see he got bitten. Must've interrupted his dinner, Rae."

The young man looked up, confused. "Hnh...? Where's Alex?"

Beast Boy coiled back. "_Alex_?" he blurted.

"Yeah, Alex...my name's Greg...Alex was here a moment ago..."

Robin frowned. "That must be his name."

Greg blinked. "Why, what happened? Did something happen to Alex?"

"Yeah, somethin' happened." Cyborg replied. "He leeched your blood like a parasite. Feel the bite mark on your neck?"

Greg's eyes widened and his hand flew to the place on his neck where "Alex" had bitten him. "_Leeched_ me? I thought it was a hickey!"

Raven pulled up her hood. "Greg," she began, "Do you clearly remember consuming any blood?"

"N-No, why? Alex is some sort of vampire? Is that why it's bad I got bitten?" he bowed his head. "I mean, I know he said he liked it rough..."

Beast Boy jumped. "_Way_ too much information," he mumbled. "But _Alex_? What happened to the cool-sounding Dracula names? Like, the 'anovich' names? _Alex_?"

"It's short for Alexander." Greg said. He looked between the five Teen Titans, frowning. "Look...I'm totally confused. A moment ago he was feeling me up and giving me a monkey bite."

"Perhaps we should check to be sure he is not...infected?" suggested Starfire. Robin nodded.

"It's a good precaution. Greg, would you mind if we took you to the Titan's Tower for a blood sample? We want to be sure you won't be turning into the same thing that Alex is."

Greg bit his lip. "So he really is a vampire?"

"Yeah, and we wanna make sure you're still human by sunrise." Cyborg explained. Greg sighed.

"Then, by all means, I guess. God, and I thought he was just some off-the-wall queer..."

Starfire frowned. "He...'swings both ways'?"

Greg grinned. "Why don't you ask _him_? Personally, I wave the rainbow flag."

* * *

"Alex" shorted his tapping into super speed roughly thirty city blocks from where he'd had a run-in with Raven. Walking back out into the empty streets, he sighed and turned a corner. Suddenly, he jumped as a young woman stared him in the face, grinning.

"And just when you thought your problems were over." she said sarcastically. Stunned, "Alex" was caught off guard when Diamond Finesse sucker-punched him. When he recovered, he swirled his tongue over his teeth to make sure he still had his fangs, and then glared at her.

"That wasn't very nice," he snarled.

"Neither were you." Diamond Finesse produced a blue-colored poker chip between her fingers. "I tried asking you, then I tried _telling_ you, but you just never listened, Vincent."

Vincent glared at Diamond Finesse and stood up on his feet. "I told you firmly I'd be staying here. Nothing you do can convince me to go back to Russia." He sighed. "Vanessa...let me come home with you."

"No!" Finesse grabbed Vincent by the collar of his zip-up midriff shirt. "I will treat you _exactly_ like the thing you've decided to become, Vincent—a sucker invading my hometown!" She held up the blue poker chip. "And no amount of sweet-talking or vampire charm will inspire sympathy!"

"You intend to hit me with a miniature strobe light?" asked Vincent. Finesse glared at him.

"You would prefer I tie you down in front of my blinds and wait for sunrise?"

Vincent gazed into Finesse's eyes, treating her as the Vanessa he was familiar with, and not the Diamond Finesse who threatened his existence.

"At least...in front of your blinds...I can die close to your home."

"Besides, the pain wouldn't last as long." Finesse hissed, leering at him. Vincent scoffed.

"You're a tenacious little thing, do you know that?"

"Don't tempt me, suckhead," Finesse grumbled. Vincent glowered at her and grabbed her by the shoulders, slamming her against the wall and flicking away the chip in her hand.

"The terms of affection are growing a bit stale, Vanessa."

Vanessa struggled in futile bursts of power. "Let me go, Vincent!"

"First, you admit to me those four simple words you have collecting cobwebs in the back of your brain. They need air."

Vanessa snarled. "Only at sunrise."

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play it, I'll give you another night to reconsider." Vincent leaned in close enough to allow his breath to touch Vanessa's skin. "Good night, Vanessa."

Vincent morphed into his bat form and flapped away before Diamond Finesse could do anything to harm him further. Finesse watched him leave, and then crossed her arms, growling. She'd let him get away again—this was the third time. It would soon become the last.


	3. Interrogation

Chapter 3

"Interrogation"

* * *

Beast Boy tapped his foot impatiently as he leaned against the outside wall of a local blood bank, chewing on his lip and looking as pouty as he'd ever been that day. Starfire and Cyborg were staking out in the T-Car by a popular part of the city that was known for its night life, compressed acidic beats seeping in through the almost airtight windows. Raven was checking out the mostly abandoned parts of the city that were supposedly a standard hang-out for vampires, and Robin covered whatever was left. The stake-out was thorough and split, because there was no way they would let "Alex" get away tonight. If they did, there would be more on their hands than they could handle.

Robin eventually became a bit impatient (three straight hours had passed) and contacted Beast Boy first.

"Do you have anything?"

"_No_," was Beast Boy's agitated reply. "Because I got the lamest and most obvious place in the city!"

"It's a blood bank, Beast Boy. Alex is bound to come by there."

Raven split the screen and came onto the top half of Robin's communicator.

"Perhaps not; he certainly seemed smarter than that. Remember, we can't take anything for granted."

Robin hid another sting of irritation. Where the hell could that creature be at this time of night? He had to be _somewhere_!

"Well, how is _your_ search, Raven?"

Raven was wearing her usual stony look of stoicism. "Barren." she droned.

"What about Raven and Cyborg?" he inquired as he put them on the communicator as well. Cyborg made a "tch" sound.

"I haven't seen any freaks walk in or out…none that stood out more than the others, anyway."

Starfire leaned over Cyborg's shoulder. "Tell me, do you think tonight he may not be hunting?" she wondered.

"This _was_ a kind of hit-or-miss night," Raven pointed out. "He might be making sure we're not spotting him by lying low. He may skip out the next few hunts to throw us off."

Robin paused in thought, and then said, "Which would starve and weaken him in the process. We can play this game of his if he doesn't show up tonight, either way."

"Cool with me," Cyborg agreed with a shrug. Beast Boy sighed.

"Fine, but next stake-out, I'm switching places with someone. No hat-drawing! That's how I got stuck here in the _first_ place!"  
Cyborg smirked. "Don't be jealous, B. Just 'cos we got better luck than you…"

"Shut up!" growled Beast Boy, ears turning a peculiar shade of red.

Robin suddenly heard a series of wing flaps behind him and jerked his head up to the sky. He shut his communicator off after briefly telling his friends he may have gotten a lead, and then he saw: there was a bat flying off in the distance. He smirked, knowing this was seemingly a bit too easy. He still kept his guard up, however, and followed the elusive creature through the streets.

At one point, Robin hid in an alleyway and watched as he heard a wispy sound, and witnessed "Alex" walking out to the streets in his human form. He was staggering and grabbing his side in pain.

Robin smiled and pulled his cloak in such a manner to look like a coat, and tucked away his mask, revealing a set of trustworthy blue eyes. He followed "Alex" a way before the vampire slumped to the ground, snarling and swearing in what could be presumed Russian. He put his hand on the creature's shoulder, who jumped and looked up at him. Robin met blue with red and calmly kept his face.

"Are you all right?" he asked. The vampire glared at him and nodded slightly, dragging himself back up the wall with nails that were at least four centimeters long, and covered in an alienated dark-red blood. He responded lazily in Russian.

"You look pale," Robin continued. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

"Alex" snarled at him and bared his fangs in full. "NO!" he screamed, obviously already quite invoked. Robin jumped, feigning a startled attitude.

"Hey, calm down, I'm trying to help, okay?"

Still the nightly hunter gave him a crazed sneer, piercing him with crimson-red eyes. Robin held out his hand as if for a friendly shake.

"I'm Bruce. You got a name, pal?" The name he used was fake, of course.

He was still staring into a vengeful face when the vampire bared his fangs again, never sheathing those lethally long, black-painted nails. Blood was oozing from his side, and his head lolled to one side, eyes rolling. He was weaker than he'd been letting on.

"Vincent Gregorovich," he hissed, "And I do not need a _doctor_."

Before he could lift his head to look, the rest of the Teen Titans were circling him and giving him firm stares, Robin quickly donning his mask again and grinning.

"That's good, because you won't be getting much of one."

There was a very long pause. Vincent blinked lazily, surveying the situation.

"Come quietly and we won't muss you up more than you already are," Cyborg said with a slight growl, "Good trade, right?"

"No biting!" warned Beast Boy, eyeing Vincent sternly.

Raven was defensively charging for a spell, remembering the last assault, and Starfire wasn't any less prepared. Robin crossed his arms.

"Well?"

Vincent looked around him, staggering again and regaining his balance, his eyes seemingly shaking and rolling left, right, up, most all directions. He flashed his fangs again, but the zeal to the threat was gone, and he snarled,

"Fuck."

* * *

"Stop squirming, you little brat!" snapped Cyborg. Vincent hissed in a snake-like manner and defiantly stared at him, hugging his wounded side protectively. Cyborg growled and held a roll of gauze in his hand.

"If ya don't hold still, I can't patch you up, and we can't keep you for Q n' A!"

"It shall fix its' self!" snarled the vampire. Grammar obviously needed a bit of work.

"What kinda meth've you been taking, kid?" Cyborg asked.

"No, let him be." Raven said, gaining some questioning looks. "Vampires have a natural healing force in their bodies. If the wound is not a death blow, it can be fully healed within a day or less." She explained.

Vincent looked up and gave Raven a thankful smirk. "At least _one_ person in this room is smarter than the average amoeba."

Beast Boy stiffened, Starfire's eyes steeled into a solid green, and Robin only gave an angry stare through the mask he was wearing. Cyborg pushed Vincent onto the couch, where several towels were already laid out, since he'd been planning to bandage him.

"A couch? I am a guest compared to the holocaust." Vincent joked.

"Don't get cocky," Robin hissed, "Else we'll just let you burn at the blinds for a lovely sunrise."

Vincent sighed. "Ah, I'd almost planned for that the other night…" Robin pressed his hands on either side of Vincent's head.

"First question: Your alias was Alex, and you told me Vincent. So which is it?"

Vincent rolled his eyes to another direction. Robin turned his chin sharply to warn him that he'd _better_ look straight at him. The vampire grunted.

"Vincent Alexei Gregorovich." he replied.

"Nice start. Second question. Why are you hunting here?"

Vincent smiled. "**I'm hungry, bitch.**" he answered…in Russian.

Robin gave him an unhappy glance and grabbed one of his Birdarangs, stabbing it next to Vincent's head. "Wrong language. Try that again."

"**Fuck face!**" German this time. Robin held his Birdarang to Vincent's throat, yanking at a fistful of Vincent's hair. The vampire hardly flinched.

"In _English_!" he snapped, "Or I cut your head off right here and now!"

Starfire frowned, worried of the display of hostility from their leader. Of course, everyone else hated vampires enough not to care by much.

"You're the most pathetic human I've ever seen," Vincent said happily, in English.

Nobody would want to comprehend the angry glare behind Robin's mask, but it was apparent by the way he threw Vincent across the room. Blood stained the carpet, and Cyborg yelped.

"Aw, Rob, my brand new carpet!" he cried. "Okay, tone it down! You're gonna wreck the Tower at this rate…"

"Robin, you are becoming frightening!" Starfire said. It wasn't in so much of a whine, as some may wrongly expect, but a sound of some rising distress. Raven sighed, and took the liberty of approaching Vincent, who was propping himself up against the wall. He looked up at Raven and smiled.

"Ah, Strawberry Girl."

Raven blinked. "What?"

"Because you tasted like strawberries," Vincent said, "The bite…do you not remember?"

Raven gave him a stony leer. It would have been funnier if everyone didn't hate him right now. Vincent looked in another direction.

"Oh, I suppose that was a bit off. Actually, you tasted more like—"

"Quiet!"

"Okay." Vincent tapped his foot in a personal rhythm, absently staring at the ceiling. Raven sighed.

"You don't help your position if you only answer to one of us," she said in a low whisper as she bent down to be at his level. "You realize that, don't you?"

"What good does it do me to better myself for this city's heroes?" Vincent groaned. "I have been hunting and have been hunted for months now. You lot make no difference."

"But we're serious." Raven warned. "If you don't cooperate with all of us, we won't hesitate to end your life. A vampire's immortality is fragile. You should know that."

Vincent scoffed, glancing at Raven from the corners of his eyes. "No matter how you or your friends try, fright comes as easily to me as rain does to a desert."

The two of them stared at each other for several moments. Robin was waiting for there to be some continuation, while the others were patient to see what would happen. Vincent shook his head and sighed, rolling his eyes.

"So, where did you get that wound? One of your meals fought back?"

Vincent lifted his arms enough to reveal deep claw-like scratches that were still bleeding, wrapping his coat tighter around it and stuffing his hands under his arms.

"You could say that," he grumbled. A pale, graceful hand held itself in front of Vincent's face. He eyed it suspiciously before he grabbed it, and Raven helped him to stand. She was ignoring the way he dug his sharp, black nails into the back of her hand as she helped him back to the couch.

"Why are you hunting here?" she asked.

"I told you that the last time you asked," Vincent retorted. Raven put her hands on her hips.

"I want you to say it to the rest of us."

Beast Boy was twiddling his fingers as the others awaited an answer. Finally, Vincent grunted and said, "I go where I go. I'm not going back to Russia."

"Poverty didn't suit you?" wondered Cyborg. "Or did you just hog that from the masses?" Vincent bared his fangs at him.

"I was quite happy with my homeland," he snarled, "It was my _heritage_ I was sickened with."

"Do you have any others with you?" asked Raven. Vincent heaved another large cloud of hot air.

"No." he muttered. Robin and the others exchanged very relieved glances and smiles, but they quickly faded.

"All right, a question for the ages," Raven said a little teasingly. "How old are you?"

Beast Boy grinned. Vincent shrugged.

"I was born in October 1777; you do the math."

A Birdarang was a hair's breath away from hitting his neck when it landed in the couch, and Vincent jumped. "Two-hundred and twenty-seven!" he cried. Robin acknowledged the answer and removed the weapon from next to Vincent's head. Cyborg whistled.

"You still look like you'd be _seventeen_," he commented.

"Well, vampires are immortal." Vincent growled. "We keep the appearance of the age at which we turned. It helps us to attract our prey."

"Cool! What else can you do?" Beast Boy blurted with a grin. Some angry stares landed on him, and he sheepishly scratched his head. "What? Might as well figure out what his powers are," he said, quickly saving himself from sounding like a sympathizer. Vincent flinched and grabbed at his side again.

"Humans would die for a vampire's sight. The most experienced hunters can…'zoom', I suppose is the word, up to hundreds of yards away. I suppose eighteen miles has been the record set by one of my own kin." Some eyebrows were raised by that comment.

"Heightened speed, tuning accuracy of the five senses, and…" Vincent held up his nails, which were long to begin with, and they suddenly reached a length of four solid centimeters, razor-sharp at the tips. "…Growth of one's nails to become a set of miniature daggers, if you inherit the Romanian roots for it."

"What about your shape-shifting?" Robin asked. "Into a bat, I mean."

"I am the only one in my recent bloodline who has inherited the power to turn into a bat. We have not had the ability to shift shapes for centuries."

Raven frowned. "Why is that ability thinning? There has to be something different in the way your kind breeds if your inherited powers are becoming different."

Vincent leered at her. "Why should _you_ care?" he hissed.

"Because we wish to understand your kind," Starfire said. Vincent scoffed and twirled a finger in the air in a circular pattern, sheathing his nails to a normal length.

"Whoop." he grunted. "You wish to _understand_ the _wrong line_ of vampires. Speak to the American bloodlines, and you shall find a less revolting answer."

"Okay, _now_ he's being a smartass." Cyborg grumbled. Vincent smiled in his place when Robin suddenly yanked him up.  
"Where do you want to sleep for the night?" he growled. Vincent glared fiercely at him.

"Why not just stuff me in a closet and forget about me?" he snapped.

"Closets are nice." Robin said sarcastically. "We'll give you the basement."

Vincent was escorted to the darkest, most claustrophobic part of the tower, and Robin gave instructions to watch him in shifts for the rest of the night. As soon as they began, however, starting with Robin himself, Vincent fainted to the ground and never gave his shape-shifting the time of day. He slept the rest of the night and day without even changing. The Titans, however, were given a surprise visit when a young woman's face took up their big-screen TV.

"Teen Titans, I presume." The young woman said. Robin came up from his shift and switched with Starfire.

"You presumed correctly. Who are you?"

"Name's Diamond Finesse. I'm a resident of Jump City. I'm also a newbie in the superhero business." Cyborg grinned.

"It's a fad," he chuckled. Finesse smirked.

"I've been in the biz by myself for a few months. Listen, I got a problem and you got a problem. You capture any vamps lately?"

"We have one downstairs," Cyborg reported. "Why? Have you been hunting him too?"

Diamond Finesse frowned. "Yes, and I was hoping to keep him to myself, but it looks like you already beat me to it. But hey, look. I've been tracking this bugger since I visited Russia to see my grandfather. He travels a lot. I want to see Vincent myself and do my own little interrogation. So maybe I could just drop by the Titan's Tower and chat him up a bit?"

"Sounds reasonable," Robin agreed after a pause. "You can come later tonight. Say around 7:00?"

"Fine with me." Finesse said. "See y'all at seven then."


	4. Finesse

A/N from Keiko: Thanks for the reviews, even if they're few in number. Luckily, Lomie and I are pulling out the chapters pretty fast with our teamwork, so the waiting time will be less than you would usually expect (of course, I can't say the same for my own fanfics T.T). Hope you guys are enjoying.

* * *

Chapter 4

"Finesse"

* * *

"So you say you've been a superhero for a few months?" Robin raised a curious eyebrow at Diamond Finesse.

"Five months, six days, three hours, and-" Finesse lifted up her sleeve to check her watch. "-fourteen minutes. Give or take a few seconds." She smiled mischievously, pretending not to know the impact this strange statement had on her hosts. The room was silent for a minute.

"It's not every day that you meet a superhero that...uh...counts down to the minute the length of their...um...superheroism." mused Cyborg. He crossed his arms. "Why do you?"

Finesse sighed heavily, making all of the Titans grow very still.

"My first day of being Diamond Finesse—and not a civilian—was also the _last_ day of something. You see, I knew...I've _known _Vincent for about a year and a half. One might say that we were very close."

Beast Boy's jaw dropped. "You were going out with a vampire! That's-that's amazing! Did he bite you? And—" Robin interrupted him.

"Did you know that Vincent was a vampire?" He asked, his eyes slightly narrowed. He wasn't accusing her of anything, but he did find it odd that a seemingly innocent girl like Finesse would date Vincent if she knew what he was. Finesse's eyes turned to another direction for a moment, as if the relationship meant little to her.

"I did. Like I told you last night, I met him in Russia, and we hit it off rather well. I was visiting my grandfather. He respected the fact that I was human and fed off other things; animals, I suppose. He told me he wouldn't harm other humans, and I believed him. Of course…" she crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg. "...I had to go back to the States eventually. It was hard. Before I left, I found out that my grandfather dwelt dangerously close to the family estate of the Gregoroviches." Some eyes became a bit surprised at this.

"I know my grandfather can take care of himself, but it was Vincent I was upset about. You see, for a vampire to fall in love with a human was extremely taboo, and we had to have our meetings like we would feed chocolate to a dog under the table. Once, Vincent even had to fool his older brother by pretending to capture me and take me away to feed. They had been hunting together that night." Finesse ran her fingers through her slicked-back hair. "...About a week after returning to Jump City, I realized Vincent had followed me somehow."

Raven closed her eyes slightly. She could sense another feeling emanating from Finesse. It was hard to name; it was anger, regret, and sadness all wrapped in one package. Raven opened her eyes again and decided to break the awkward silence.

"What happened when you found out that he followed you?" Her voice was sympathetic, yet firm. This wasn't a heart-to-heart. It was a meeting of superheroes, an exchange of important information.

Finesse was clearly uncomfortable. Her eyes shifted a bit, and she took in a deep breath, sighing. "Well, we tried to date again. Things got…really serious." She exhaled. At least _that_ was over with.

"How serious?" asked Beast Boy and Cyborg together. Robin and Raven nodded together, indicating that they were wondering the same thing. Starfire, on the other hand, was strangely quiet.

Finesse narrowed her eyes. "_Really_ serious." She gave them all a look that told them to drop the subject.

Starfire stepped forward, a look of sad pity on her face. "I am guessing that things did not fare well for your relationship soon after. Please, will you tell us what happened?" She gazed down at Finesse.

Diamond Finesse had not planned for this talk to turn into a tell-all account of her love life. In fact, she hadn't planned to talk about herself much at all. She crossed her legs on the couch she was sitting on.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." She straightened her collar. Her face had taken on a stony yet somehow angry expression. She gazed out the window, not looking at anything in particular. "I laid down rules for my apartment. I wouldn't tolerate any drinking of human blood—this was my hometown, and I felt it was my duty to protect it from the man I loved. Vincent seemed to agree. But then something happened...I'm not sure what."

Diamond Finesse's expression changed to a slightly confused one. She narrowed her eyes, still looking out the window. "He changed. One night, he came home with distinct fingernail scratches on his arms." She closed her eyes. "So the next night I followed him. Just as I suspected, he lured a young woman into a deserted area of a storage yard and bit her. I was heartbroken and angry." She smiled suddenly.

"When he returned home, I asked him what happened. I told him what I had seen, and he told me what he did. He admitted he was wrong, but he begged my forgiveness. 'We vampires,' he told me, 'We vampires may feed off anything we choose, but humans are like our cut of sirloin steak. If we cannot feed on a human, we feel dead on the inside.'" This bit confused the Titans, but they decided not to ask as Finesse continued. She was staring at something in the air, something only she could see, to relieve the tension in her.

"I forgave him that night. Three weeks later, however, it was different. Vincent was smart. He found a way around things. So he kept feeding, not killing his victims, leaving them with what would just look like a hickey for a couple of days. That got me _very_ angry. I told him that if he didn't leave, I would be forced to protect my home and to hunt him down. I remember he had this look in his eyes...he said something to me in Russian, and then he left for the streets. I was tracking him ever since."

Robin continued questioning Diamond Finesse, but Starfire wasn't listening. The situation Finesse had described was eerily similar to Starfire's own lover's betrayal. Robin had seemingly turned on the Titans, donning Slade's apprentice outfit. He had even attacked them. Starfire had been crushed. But the situation had worn itself out, and Robin was the gung-ho leader of the Teen Titans once again. Could Finesse be in Starfire's place? Starfire's heart swelled with pity.

* * *

Vincent woke from the deepest sleep he'd had in months. He groggily sat up, his vision automatically switching to "night mode". Damn, he was thirsty. Really thirsty. A funny sort of itch was growing in the back of his throat. It was the dryness that was caused by the lack of blood. It usually was bearable for four days at best, but it was bad this time.

He stood up and straightened his jacket. His superhuman ears picked up the sound of voices two floors above him, but he couldn't distinguish one from another. He glanced around the basement, his eyes taking in the hopelessness of his situation. He walked over to the water heater and turned the knob to off. If the Titans ever wanted to take a shower again, they'd have to come down here. Going into the basement meant that they'd have to at least talk to him.

He paused, and then made up his mind. The Teen Titans were food if he didn't get out. Taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth and _roared_, making mice and rats run into their holes and nests in fear. Vincent heard the voices upstairs stop, and then start again. He scowled.

With one quick motion, he sliced through the cords going into the main electricity box.

* * *

"You see, these boots can have pieces of this box fit onto them, and they have mini-jets built in." said Finesse proudly, pointing to her feet. The Titans raised their eyebrows, clearly impressed.

"You keep time, you dated a vampire, and now you wear boxes on your sh—what was that?" Cyborg looked up and over to the stairs. He could have sworn that he heard something from downstairs. Robin stood up.

"What did it sound like?" he asked concernedly.

"I dunno, it was just a noise. Everyone listen for a minute." The whole room grew quiet. Robin's hand was on his bo staff, and Raven had pulled her hood over her head.

"Alright guys. I don't think anything's there." Robin turned to sit down again, but stopped. The lights were flickering. Suddenly, they went out, plunging the Teen Titans and their guest into pitch black darkness. Finesse knew instantly what was up, and sighed.

"And he calls _me_ tenacious?"

* * *

Vincent smirked, clearly proud of himself. The Titans would _have_ to come down now. He silently shifted into a bat, his little leathery wings blending in with his surroundings perfectly. He flew up to the rafters and waited.

Just as Vincent suspected, the Teen Titans' voices became more and more audible. In a minute, they were right outside the basement door.

"Alright, guys. We need to be careful here. Stay focused." Robin said quietly. "We don't know where his is down there, and he's probably thirsty." Everyone nodded, but Finesse gave no sign that she'd heard him.

With a loud "HYAH!" Robin kicked down the door. It clanged down the steps and rested at the foot of the stairs. With her powers, Raven quickly brought it back up and put it back in the doorway. Now Vincent couldn't get out.

"Hey, Vincent! Wanna come out of your little hiding place? We just want to talk!" yelled Cyborg. His voice echoed a bit, but Vincent never came out. Cyborg turned on his heat-seeking sight in his robotic eye. "This should find him." he declared. Raven put a hand on his arm and looked up at Cyborg.

"No, it won't. Vampires have a very low body temperature. They're not human, remember." Cyborg sighed and nodded.

"You're right. We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Vincent, the bat, perched upside down on his rafter next to three other bats. He blended in perfectly here. He opened his mouth and screeched, trying to determine how many Titans had come to pay him a visit. He counted in his mind as the echolocation did its work. _One, two, three, four, five…six?_

If there were six people in this basement, Vincent would have some trouble feeding tonight. He gripped the bar tighter and waited. Eventually the group would break up and search individually, and then he would attack. God, he was thirsty.

He screeched again, only to find out that the entire group had walked over to the other side of the basement. He sighed mentally. How long was this going to take? Perhaps he needed to alert the Titans of his presence some more. He spread his wings and flapped in midair a bit, and then perched upside down once more.

The flying gimmick worked like a charm. The Titans turned around and walked towards his end of the basement, weapons up. Raven stopped and turned to walk left of the group. Beast Boy and Cyborg went right. Robin and Starfire turned around and searched the far end. That only left the unknown person.

Guessing by the sound their boots made, Vincent reckoned that this mysterious person must have been a girl. He screeched, the sonar bouncing back at him almost immediately. Vincent's thirst took over. He needed blood _now_.

With a cat-like hiss, Vincent morphed into his human form and fell 15 feet. His prey shrieked as he landed behind her and put one arm around her neck in a chokehold and the other around her waist and arms to keep her from moving. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he bent her neck sideways and opened his mouth to bite her neck. The bite never happened.

First, a spiky heel to the shin caused him to cringe and loosen his grip around her waist. With an amazing display of strength, the young woman threw him to the side, causing him to crash into a pile of boxes. He winced as he realized that his side wound had remained unhealed.

"You know, Vincent, now that I think about it, I'm glad you left. It makes this fight so much easier." Diamond Finesse walked towards Vincent's form that was stretched out among boxes. She couldn't see the look of horror and shock on Vincent's face.

"Vanessa!"

Diamond Finesse put her hands on her hips and waited. Vincent was cornered enough; she didn't need to present her strength.

Vincent, in the meanwhile, bit his lip and bowed his head in shame. He had almost bitten _Vanessa_. The itch in his throat began to die down; that was much better. It was bearable now. But she'd always had that sort of effect on him: taming his thirst. All except for when he'd screwed up and lost her...and now he'd almost fed on her.

"Are you going to stop being a jock, or do I have to rough you up some more?"

"I was 'roughed up' enough the other night." sighed Vincent. He looked up at Vanessa with a sadness in his eyes. "You just keep hunting me and hunting me, don't you?"


	5. Intruder

Chapter 5

"Intruder"

* * *

Vincent knew that he was screwed when the other Titans appeared from the dark behind Vanessa. Each one of them had their signature weapon at the ready: Cyborg with his arm-cannon, Starfire with her eyes and hands glowing, Robin with bo staff and birdarangs, Beast Boy in cobra form, and Raven with her hood up and her hands glowing black.

"Um, I didn't bite her, if that means anything to you guys." Vincent whispered. His nails instinctively grew to their full length of four centimeters, and the gums above his fangs felt more tender than usual. He was prepared to fight for his life, even if Vanessa was there.

"We _will_ kill you, vampire, if you make one wrong move." snarled Robin. He gave his bo staff a little twirl and positioned it in his hands so that he could bring it down on Vincent's temple if occasion called. "Why'd you attack Finesse?" demanded Robin loudly. Vincent just glared defiantly.

Robin's patience snapped. With a swift move, he kicked Vincent in the stomach, making Vincent's eyes widen in pain and lack of air. "Answer me, dammit!" yelled Robin. Vincent threw Robin a filthy look.

"Not only are you the most pathetic human I've ever met, but you're the stupidest, too." He knew not one second after he said that that he was going to pay for it. Sure enough-

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" Raven half-shrieked, the black spell encasing Vincent and throwing him clear across the basement. He landed with a loud _thud_, and he was fairly certain that something was broken. Robin, the Titans, and Finesse walked over to his still form that was sprawled on the concrete floor. Robin raised his bo staff.

"Last time." he hissed dangerously. "Why'd you attack Diamond Finesse?" His hands gripped the staff tightly, so tight that Robin's hands were beginning to ache. Vincent mumbled something inaudible. "Louder!" demanded Robin furiously.

The rest of the Teen Titans were beginning to get worried. They had all seen Robin go dangerously close to the edge before, and this situation was _way_ too familiar. Vincent moved his hand slightly.

"I said…a starving person shall seek food, and a thirsty person shall seek water." His hand moved to his injured side, which was still bleeding a little bit. Vincent's eyes went unfocused. He didn't move after that.

The whole room was quiet. Finesse made the first noise. "What…did you _do_, Robin?" she whispered, horror and a tiny bit of fury lacing her voice. "If he's dead…"

"Vampires can only be killed by silver and garlic." said Robin stiffly, obviously uncomfortable with all the horrified stares fixed on him. "This sucker is probably just unconscious."

There was another long, awkward pause. Vanessa rubbed her right eye, which felt unusually moist.

"We'll leave him down here, and when he wakes up we'll question him some more." Finesse opened her mouth to respond, but she knew that she was in no position to argue with Robin. She bent down over Vincent's body.

"He needs help." she whispered, almost no sound escaping her lips. Robin simply frowned and turned to Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Let's go." He turned to leave.

"_No_."

Starfire's defiant voice seemed to fill the room. She stood next to Vincent's still form, her mouth formed into an extremely angry scowl.

"If you think that this boy is unharmed and o-kay, then you are not worthy to be our leader!" she said loudly, pointing an accusing finger at Robin. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stared. Raven watched the situation while Finesse knelt next to Vincent, inspecting his wound and, apparently, not even listening.

"You have much to learn about being a hero, Robin! You fight evil and wickedness, yet you are blinded by your hate for criminals! You refuse to listen to reason when it is three feet away from you!" Starfire's eyes were solid green now. Cyborg raised his hand a bit.

"Star, calm down. Robin knows what he's doi—"

"Clearly he does _not_!" Starfire yelled. Everyone swallowed what they were going to say. Robin's look softened.

"Starfire, I didn't know that you were so concer—"

"I do not _care _if you did not know! I am telling you _now_! You have brought yourself down to his level if you think that by denying a being what his body needs—food and water—that you are doing right!"

"Starfire, that's enough." Raven said sharply. Starfire looked at her, her eyes narrowed. "You're correct; Robin is in the wrong here, but arguing about it is pointless. Now stop yelling at him and make your point." Raven crossed her arms.

Starfire closed her eyes. "Very well. I will make my point." She walked over to Vincent's body and knelt down across from Finesse. "Please, cooperate with me." she said quietly to Finesse. Finesse nodded. Starfire gently picked up Vincent's limp body and held him close to her own. Beast Boy and Cyborg inhaled sharply, while Robin simply stared, dumbstruck. Starfire turned to face them all.

"Vincent Alexei Gregorovich is a guest in this tower, and until we can find a solution to our vampire problems, here is where he will stay. He may train with us if he wishes so, and he will be welcomed at our table."

And with that, Starfire silently floated upstairs towards the hospital room. Cyborg was the only one who spoke.

"Ball's in your court, Fearless Leader."

* * *

Vincent opened one eye, the eye that didn't have a huge shiner. He glanced to his right. A curtain. He glanced to his left. A curtain. He was completely surrounded by curtains! He tried to sit up, but something under his blankets held him down. By the feel of it, the Teen Titans had strapped him down to this bed.

He finally gave up trying to free himself; it was useless. He lay in the bed, fuming. Finally, when the silence was too much for him to bear...

"Where the hell am I!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He paused, but heard nothing. He opened his mouth to yell out all the Russian swear words he knew when a door behind the curtains opened and then closed. Soft footsteps made their way to his right side on the other side of the curtains. A thin hand parted the curtains.

Starfire stood there, smiling down at Vincent. Her svelte figure and warm smile made her the most wonderful thing that Vincent had seen in five months.

"I am pleased that you are awake, Vincent Alexei. Tell me, do you feel well?" she inquired.

"Yeah, I feel fine…" he mumbled, a little confused. He had only just noticed that he wasn't hungry or thirsty. A small IV with blood in it attached to his arms solved the question of why that was. "What happened?"

"You were taken here after you fell unconscious, and Diamond Finesse went to the Jump City Life League Blood Bank and brought home three bags of your required human blood. She saved your life." Starfire sat down at the foot of the bed, her head bowed slightly.

"I…am sorry that you are restrained. Robin insisted quite fervently, you see." Vincent blinked, then turned his head.

"...It's okay, I guess. They don't hurt or anything…" He didn't really know what to say to this strange alien girl. Starfire looked up, her eyes wide with sadness.

"You must not think ill of Robin." she said quietly. "He is good; he really is. But sometimes he goes too far…when he feels that he and what he cares for is being threatened. He will even go as far as to seriously injure…people." Her hands fidgeted with a bit of blanket.

"I see." grunted Vincent. What was this weird girl saying? Was he supposed to trust Robin now that she was defending him? Should he trust her? She seemed nice enough…of course, niceness had fooled him before.

"You are a guest in this tower now." said Starfire officially. "Cyborg and I prepared the guest room, and Diamond Finesse went out with Raven to get you a small fridge for your edibles. By 'edibles', she meant small packets of human blood from the blood bank."

"Uh…thanks?" said Vincent in a small voice. _What did I do to deserve this...hospitality?_

Starfire grinned. "So that leaves me just one more thing." She bent down to the side of the bed and fiddled with something. Vincent felt something on his shins loosen. Then on his thighs. Then stomach. And finally…

"And that is the last restraint. You are free to move about the tower now. Would you like to join us for dinner?"

Vincent stared at Starfire. This sudden change in mood and temperament was so...bizarre. First, the Teen Titans were playing the bad cops. Now, they—well, Starfire—were treating him like one of them. A sudden thought popped up into Vincent's mind.

"Where's Vanessa?"

Starfire paused. "Van—Oh! You mean Diamond Finesse?" She smiled warmly. "She's right here." Starfire yanked back the rest of the curtains surrounding the hospital bed to reveal Diamond Finesse sitting on a chair at the far end of the room.

"Hey, Vincent." she said quietly.

* * *

"Man, that was some good grub!" proclaimed Cyborg loudly as everyone cleared away the dishes after dinner. Beast Boy nodded.

"I especially liked the vegetarian lasagna. There seemed to be a lot of it though." he added thoughtfully.

"BB, there was a lot of it because you were the only one eating it. _No_body with half a brain around here would eat lasagna without meat."

"_I _did!" said Beast Boy indignantly. Raven smiled slyly.

"Who said you had a brain?"

Raven ducked as Beast Boy threw a dishrag at her, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room. Vincent watched from the corner, not quite sure what to do.

Vincent had been quiet all through dinner. No matter what Starfire said or did, no matter how many kind words went his way, Vincent couldn't shake the feeling that he was an outsider here, and that he wasn't welcome. Perhaps it was the way that Robin stared at him icily all through the meal that made him think this. He was very happy when the kitchen was done and he could go to his room and stay there.

Vincent's room was Terra's old room. The desert skyline theme was still on the walls, and the door still read _TERRA_. It was very odd. Vincent walked over to his bed and sat down on it. How long was he going to stay in the tower? He was definitely a stranger, an intruder. Would all of the Titans ever completely trust him, especially after what he had pulled the night before? Furthermore, should _he_ trust _them_?

With thoughts like these swimming around in his head, and the fact that Diamond Finesse was somewhere above him, sharing a room with Raven that night, sleep didn't come easily to Vincent. Just when he drifted off to sleep, the lights started blinking and an alarm started blaring just outside his room. Robin's voice blasted through the building.

"Titans! We have an intruder!"


	6. An Unwanted Shadow

Authors' Notes

"Look at us, and our preoccupied selves, moving up some such grades in school and _totally _neglecting our _greatest _collaboration project in...like...EVER! We deeply apologize for our absence, everybody. Rest assured, we **_barely _**saved our sorry little asses keeping our files in check. For some reason, _all _of the chapters, which I had been logging on my laptop, got erased during my last virus check. I don't know how. I don't know why. But it greatly strengthens the urges deep within me to pick up my computer and throw it out my bedroom window."** -Keiko  
**

"We're asses, and we're sorry."** -Lomesir**

* * *

Chapter Six

"An Unwanted Shadow"

* * *

"I got 'er! She's on her way past Raven's room!" 

Cyborg and Diamond Finesse trailed the intruder that was rushing past Raven's room in the hall. The person was dressed in all black, except for long, curly brown hair. She suddenly turned around, and it turned out she was wearing a balaclava. Only her eyes and her mouth could be seen.

"Give me a shot at her!" Finesse said, whipping out three poker chips. She threw a white one at the intruder, and the black-dressed young woman leapt up...and attached herself to the ceiling. Cyborg's eyes widened.

"Okay, that ain't human!"

"She's a vampire!" declared Finesse. Cyborg blinked twice at her.

"_Another_ one!"

The young woman opened her mouth and hissed, revealing a set of closely-set, stubby fangs. Cyborg prepped his arm cannon.

"Well, here goes then!" In an attempt to shake the infiltrating enemy and at least get her knocked out, Cyborg fired from his cannon. There was a blur of black in the darkness, and she was gone. Finesse sighed.

"They love to play it rough nowadays..."

There was a snake-like hiss beside Finesse, and she shrieked as the woman lunged to bite. When she missed, the woman used a burst of superhuman speed to not only run away, but to _crawl along the wall_ as she did. Cyborg paused.

"...There's no way we can catch that thing runnin' after it, is there?"

"I would think not. But I know what to do." Finesse looked up at Cyborg. "Let's corner her. We can give her fewer and fewer options on where to go."

"Like how?" wondered Cyborg. Raven came in behind them after phasing out of her soul self. Finesse took a blue poker chip and set it on the floor, and clicked it. A blinding white strobe light began to blink continuously. Staring too long would make one's eyes ache.

"We'll trap her with sunlight."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Robin and the other Teen Titans chased after this intruder, Vincent stood up from his temporary bed and lifted his eyes up to the ceiling. He felt a tingling run up and down his spine, and warmed up his fingers, wiggling them slowly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the air, only slightly parting his lips to taste the scent he detected. He re-opened the lids over his crimson-colored eyes, and his expression changed from tranquility to irritation. He threateningly exposed his fangs.

"You had better not be here, you bitch..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robin thrust his bo staff at the enemy, and the black-dressed woman dodged it. When he continuously began to attack her, she hissed and ran circles around him, distorting his vision with her speed. Starfire had her bolts ready to fire, but the target was moving too fast for her to pinpoint. Robin was startled when the brown-haired woman stopped on a dime in front of him, and smiled, her canines pointed as fangs.

"Hallo," she hissed, her "h" presented with a heavy Germanic hacking sound. She leapt up high and crawled along the ceiling as she rushed away. Starfire attempted to toss a few star bolts at her, but the girl was still way too fast. Robin pulled out his communicator.

"Finesse, I lost her! Can you hurry up with those strobe lights?"

"Going as fast as I can," replied Finesse through Cyborg's communicator. "We're covering the top floor hallways where she's wandering around."

Robin snapped the communicator shut. It was good enough for him.

"I shall take the left!" said Starfire, and Robin nodded to show he agreed, covering the right.

Some turns down the way, Starfire passed by Terra's old room just as Vincent came out to present himself, eyes glowing red in the dim lighting. She stopped on her errand.

"Vincent! How perfect! There has been an intruder in the tower, and—"

"Where is she?" prompted Vincent, interrupting Starfire. The alien girl paused.

"The enemy, you mean?"

"Vanessa. Where is Vanessa?"

"She is with Cyborg. But please, Vincent, you must—"

"She is setting up those blinding lights?"

Starfire blinked. "Why, yes, but...how ever did you know?"

Vincent hissed. "Because it feels like those mornings when sunlight is streaming in between the blinds. Tell her to take them down, immediately. I must have darkness on my hunting ground."

Starfire gave Vincent a firm stare. "This is no time to be thinking of food or drink, Vincent! If you wish to help us, then—"

"Do you want it or not?" Vincent sighed. "I am proposing you allow me to help you corner this person, but you must alert Vanessa to take down the strobe lights, or I shall have limited movement around the Tower. With limited movement comes limited hunting ability." He quirked an eyebrow. "Do we have a deal or not?"

Slightly puzzled by Vincent's proposal, Starfire only nodded after a pause and continued patrolling the halls as she pulled out her communicator to talk with Vanessa through Cyborg. Vincent waited until Starfire had turned a corner, meeting with Raven, then allowed his eyes to come into focus. The normally rounded black centers snapped to center in a thin black slit, much like the appearance of a cat's eyes. His fangs unsheathed once more, and he let his eyes roll, letting his head fall back, and he relaxed to taste the air again. He detected the intruder's perfumed scent only a few halls down. Vincent smirked, and in Russian, he declared:

"Let the hunt begin."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What? Why!"

"He says that if you allow him the darkness to perform his hunt, he will help you to track this person." said Starfire. Diamond Finesse sneered.

"He's trying to prove himself to you guys. I say we keep the lights up."

"He seemed awfully sincere, Diamond Finesse. Perhaps we should listen to Vincent's advice, and take the strobe lights down as he insisted." Robin's face appeared on the communicator.

"What's going on?" he asked. When Cyborg gave the situation, Robin immediately protested.

"I don't like it. What if he's working with her?"

"That's unlikely." Finesse assured him. "If that were true, I would have known. Vampires don't go individually, they hunt in packs—like wolves." Beast Boy had come onto the chat line as she had said this.

"Wait, so this lady would have been with Vince when we originally caught him if they were workin' in cahoots, right?"

"Correct." said Finesse. She sighed. "All right, fine. I'll turn them off, but everyone, be very careful. I don't know how experienced this vampire is, and we don't know what she's capable of. We'll give Vincent full mobility, and we'll have to put our faith in him."

"I agree with this decision," voiced Starfire.

"Works for me." Beast Boy said.

"I'm cool here." echoed Cyborg. Robin reluctantly gave permission for this, and after all communicators were shut off, Diamond Finesse took her card box and pulled out a thin white pen, clicking the red button on the end of it. A blinking strobe light down the hall turned off.

"I just flipped off all the strobe lights at once." She held out her open card box, and closed her eyes. "Now we'll just have to follow Vincent's lead." Five seconds after she'd begun talking, all the poker chips she'd set down flew into her box with the card set she stored in there, and she closed it.

"So you have some psychic powers?" Cyborg assumed.

"More powerful than I would like." answered Finesse. "I can cause things to explode if I concentrate on them hard enough. I channel my power through my cards and chips."

"Maybe that'll come in handy," said Cyborg. He turned and began to backtrack through the halls, and Finesse followed him. They were fighting blind now. Whatever happened would be up to Vincent.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vincent had analyzed the entire tower. Where the girl was, and where the Titans were. He was rushing so fast down the halls, a normal person would think he were only a shadow passing by. He followed the vampiric senses he trusted, and turned five more corners. The woman was staring at him on the other end of the hall.

She bared her fangs at him, and suddenly she smiled, speaking in German.

"Vincent!"

Vincent froze, and his eyes became the size of dinner plates. The girl held her arms out to him.

"Ich bin hier Sie zu retten!" (I am here to rescue you!)

"Like _hell _you are!" shrieked Vincent, tearing down the hallway towards the girl and roaring fiercely, startling her. She screamed and ran away from him, and it became a high-speed chase. The first group Vincent rallied her towards was Raven and Starfire. From there, Beast Boy and Robin were coming from a different direction, and Vanessa and Cyborg would eventually be alerted.

"Vincent, halt! Halt! Es ist ich!" she squealed. Vincent only bared his fangs and tackled her to the ground. The girl screamed at the top of her lungs and wriggled out of his grip, only to back up against Raven's cloak. She jumped and backed away, and Vincent sunk his claws into her clothing, slamming her roughly against the wall.

"Halt!" begged the girl. "Vincent, _halt_!" Robin and Beast Boy came in from the left side, while Raven and Starfire closed in on the right. The girl hissed.

"TRAITOR!" she screamed. Vincent closed his palm around her neck and forced her to begin choking, and she gaped her mouth open wide, but hid her fangs. Vincent sneered.

"You should really work on your act." he growled, shoving two fingers between her lips and prying her teeth apart when she began to close them down. He pressed his knee into her stomach to pin her to the wall and peeled the girl's lips back, exposing stubby little fangs in the canine area. Vincent slid his tongue over his own fangs to check. His were just behind the canines.

Vincent snarled. "Elke." he muttered, accenting in his best German as he ripped off the stocking and shoved the girl out into the open, holding her firmly by the arm. "I knew you were a witch the day you gained power, but you've just fallen to countless levels of low."

Elke, the intruder, looked up with emerald-green eyes and glared at Vincent defiantly, her curly brown hair shadowing some of her face.

"You are a _snake_," she snapped. "A snake to king over all snakes!"

"How nice." growled Vincent. "And here I see you running errands for my bloodline. Now who is the snake?"

"Do you know her?" Raven asked. Robin looked at Vincent expectantly, and Vincent showed his gleaming fangs to the leader.

"Of course I know her," he said boldly, staring straight at Robin as he did. "She's a deceiving little child who has been bugging me since eleven years ago." Elke began to try and yank her arm out of Vincent's grip.

"I am no _child!_" she argued. "I am the next heir as the head of my family line, and you will respect me for it, Vincent!"

Beast Boy chewed on his bottom lip. "This is getting a liiittle weird." he mumbled. It was then that Cyborg and Diamond Finesse arrived. Finesse blinked.

"Who the hell is _this _bitch?" she growled. Vincent surveyed the group, and yanked on Elke's hair.

"Why don't we sit down and chat, Elke? Just you, me, and these other guys. What do you say?"

Elke leered at him and spat at his feet. "Sometimes I wonder why they ever chose _you_." she sneered. Vincent laughed.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" he teased. "Poor Elke. Believes that she can own the world."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are you here?" asked Robin. Elke stubbornly crossed her arms.

"Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies," she sniffed. Vincent sighed, and bowed his head, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingertips and mumbling something in Russian. Robin's eye twitched behind his mask.

"Let's try that again. Why are you here?" he prompted, more firmly this time. Elke turned her head and kept silent. Robin smacked his hands down on either side of her head.

"Listen, you stubborn little brat, I already had to deal with one bloodsucker today, and I do not want to drag this out with another one! So you either cooperate or I will follow through on a previous threat I laid down on the table!" Robin turned her head around and glared at her straight in the face. "You got that?"

Elke spat at Robin's feet and swore at him in German. As soon as Robin moved to strike her, Starfire pulled him back. Vincent put his hands on Elke's shoulders, and began to rub them soothingly.

"Elke..." he purred in a singsongy voice, lowering his head. Elke looked up at him curiously, and he took his fingertips, gently turning her head around to face the now extremely angered Robin. German became his language mode as he whispered in her ear.

"Do you see the Masked Crusader in front of you?" he said quietly. "He has recently ascended to vampire hunter." Elke blinked.

"So?" she replied, also in German. Vincent wrapped his arms around her and kissed her ear, still speaking foreignly.

"Well, if you ever want to live to see the next sunrise," and he added harshly to this with fingernails digging into her shoulders, "My dear..." Elke yelped from the surprise.

"...Then I suggest...you answer his questions...or he will cut off your head, and display your skull like this country's Ku Klux Klan..." Vincent trailed his hands up and cupped Elke's cheeks in his palms. "Regardless of your half-breed blood or not."

All of the Teen Titans were now in puzzled awe at the German they had conversed in, and the look of sweating horror on Elke's face. Raven, of course, picked up on the jist of the exchange, and Robin was ready to jump at the interrogation again. Vincent played with Elke's hair.

"So," he said in English, "What do you say to the Masked Crusader, Elke?"

"...A...Anything he wants." she squeaked. Vincent smiled and patted her head.

"Good girl." Robin was also happy to hear her more pleasant response, and patted Vincent's shoulder.

"Nice job." he said, although not entirely friendly.

Vincent leered at him. "Of course. You only begin to trust me when I do something good in your eyes." he hissed. Robin pointed a finger at him and growled.

"Don't push it," he warned. As he turned to Elke, now asking her questions, Vincent felt a sting at his side and cringed, grabbing at his left side. He peeled away his hands to find blood staining his clothes; he bit his lip and growled.

"I am a Dhampir," Elke replied timidly as Robin asked her if she was a vampire or not. Vincent gave Elke a defiant stare.

"You caused my wound to openly bleed again, you witch." he growled in Russian, leaving the room and trying to keep up his posture. Elke stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms.

"I am not the one who first caused it!" she snapped back in German. Vincent held his hand out in the air, and made a series of hand signals that the Titans couldn't interpret. Vanessa, however, was smiling like the Cheshire Cat. Elke gasped, and her eyes went wide.

"How _dare _you insult your fiancee!" she shrieked. Beast Boy paused.

"They're _engaged_?"

"Yeah, and Vincent basically just flipped her the middle finger." She shook her head. "Aaah, they must make such a lovely couple." she said sarcastically. Elke growled and drew her knees up, crossing her arms.

"So what are Dhampirs?" Robin asked, still pressing onward.

"We are half-blood vampires," Elke explained, "half-human. It is a stigma among us vampires—or, it is considered one." Raven's eyebrows lifted in curiosity, and a bit of empathetic nostalgia sunk in. Beast Boy sat down next to Elke, eager to learn more about the creatures he loved that he'd believed were fictional (for most of the time, anyway).

Starfire and Cyborg, however, were watching Vincent very slightly hobbling out of the room. There were trickles of blood hitting the ground, but that could be cleaned up. The fact that Vincent was bleeding at all worried them.

"Should he not be healed by this point?" wondered Starfire. "After all, he has the power to quickly heal, does he not?"

"I'll check him out." Cyborg volunteered. "I think you should be keeping a leash on Rob for a while. He's still kinda antsy."

Starfire nodded in agreement, and Cyborg followed Vincent out into the hallways. He didn't have to walk very far; Vincent paused and looked around, lost.

Can't find your room?" Cyborg assumed. Vincent looked at him and groaned.

"Must there be so many hallways?" he complained. "The only other place with this many turns is my mansion in Russia."

Cyborg blinked. "You have a mansion?"

"Well, a family _castle_, really. Quite a large estate." Vincent shifted to hide his injured side. "When I was younger, my brother and I would play hide and seek in those halls. There were hidden passages, closets, entire rooms made out as mazes...you could get lost in your own house, if you did not know the layout." Vincent smirked. "That happened to me several times."

"Well, you shouldn't be wandering around with a bleeding open wound." Cyborg said. "I can help you find your room if you want."

Vincent hugged his arm closer to his side. "It is healing," he insisted, "Just slower than I would have expected." Cyborg crossed his arms.

"You said they usually heal within a day. It's been two already."

"So perhaps it was deeper than I thought." said Vincent with a shrug. Cyborg rolled his single human eye and sighed.

"Just follow me, and at least I can let you sit in your own room so you don't waste blood."

Vincent took a glance at him and grinned, exposing pearly white fangs.

"That's no matter. There is always plenty more."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, as soon as Vincent was sitting down, he was forced into being bandaged by Cyborg. He hissed when a hot cloth touched the still-deep scratch marks at his side.

"That_ stings!_"

"So stop squirming! You did this same crap when I tried it last time," groaned Cyborg. "You can be a stoic little bastard about scratch marks but you can't handle a hot cloth?"

Vincent narrowed his eyes at Cyborg and stiffly held himself to the bed. Cyborg carefully cleaned up the blood seeping from the wound and pulled out the roll of gauze, wrapping Vincent's torso as if it were an art. He didn't want to injure upon the injury or deepen the wound.

"Those didn't look like human scratches." he remarked. "Rival vamp?"

Vincent grumbled, "You could say." He hissed, "Not too tight!"

"Well, do you want all your body fluids to sploosh out? Then it's not too tight." Cyborg finished the wrapping job. "There, see? Not that hard if you sit still."

Vincent grabbed his midriff black undershirt with the cross on the front, and slipped it on. Mesh sleeves were attached at the shoulders—one was longer than the other and had openings for the fingers. He left his trenchcoat alone, and inspected the makings of Cyborg's bandaging job. A reminiscent smile crossed his face only briefly, and Cyborg tilted his head.

"What?"

"Nothing." Vincent said quietly. "You just...remind me of my brother. That's all."

Cyborg sat on the bed next to Vincent. "You guys were a pair, huh?"

Vincent glared at him. "Don't push me," he snarled, "Just because I'm telling you about my brother doesn't mean I'm going to fully trust you bastards!" Cyborg grinned and looked another way.

"Sure, sure..."

"I'm _serious!_"

"I didn't say I disagreed," Cyborg replied, still smiling. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Back on track. You really liked your brother?"

Vincent scoffed. "Other than the fact that he snitched my blood when he skipped a hunt, yes.

"He was the one who first introduced me to the hunts. We'd usually go out when the moon was full, or if there was enough light to see. When it was too dark even for vampires, we often skipped about a week. Those were the weeks when he stole from me..."

Cyborg paused a moment as he thought over Vincent's words and listened intently to his story. Vincent went on to explain everything his brother had taught him—how to make a clean bite, how to hunt secretively if he had to. Some of the stories weren't in Cyborg's exact taste, but he would suffer for Vincent's sake. The vampire seemed to be enjoying the story time.

"I didn't know vampires had any feeling, to tell you the truth." he said. Vincent glanced at Cyborg and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course we can. Our hearts stop beating, but they're still in use, don't you know." He laid back on Terra's old bed, sighing. "When you are a pureblood vampire, you are basically...you are born dead. Low body temperature, no blood circulating in your body but the stuff your mother gave you in the womb. That is why humans consider us without souls."

Cyborg frowned and thought back on what it was like for most of your body to be machinery. And after some thinking, he could understand Vincent's position. There had been times when citizens hadn't even bothered to thank him, seeing him as an AI machine instead of a human. It was similar to Vincent being viewed as having no soul. He looked down on the teen-looking vampire.

"Well, I can relate to that." he said slowly, "But...if you can have emotions, like you said, then you gotta have at least a little bit of a soul, right?"

Vincent scoffed. "Only those who use their emotions are the ones with a soul. Most vampires shun the part of them that acts human. Even when they marry, it is only to carry the blood." Vincent sat up. "I can't even see why my family bothers."

"Why? You don't support the marriage?"

Vincent gave Cyborg a glance. "My father is also my uncle." he said in a flat tone. Cyborg almost leapt off the bed.

"W-Wait...brother-sister marriages!"

"And fathers and daughters, and mothers and sons, and first cousins, and—"

"I get it, I get it," Cyborg said suddenly, cringing. "Gaaah...do all vampires do interbreeding practices like that?"

"Also polygamy." added Vincent. "Each pureblood male is branded with the family tattoo showing their heritage name and the number of their generation." Cyborg felt his human eye twitching. That was..._wrong_...

Vincent carefully stood up and slid his jeans and underwear down only slightly, to show a tattoo on the left side of his pelvic bone. It was a white stake in the center, with a black-headed axe on each side for a makeshift cross, pillowed on a black-lined diamond. Two bat wings were at the top point of the stake.

"This is mine. My brother also received his a while ago. All of us are tattooed at an early age. See?" Vincent sat down again, and pointed to the tattoo. Beneath the ax-stake cross, in all caps, was the surname GREGOROVICH. On the left of the stake, ALEXEI was present, and on the other side, 57th.

"My surname at the bottom, my middle name on the left, and the number of my generation."

"Okay, okay, you flashed me enough skin. Put it away." Cyborg muttered. "I think I'll just go check up on your girlfriend now..."

Vincent hissed. "If you mean Elke, she is a _nuisance_, not a girlfriend. She ages at the same rate as a human because of her Dhampir blood. She's been using me since she was four."

Cyborg laughed. "You were outsmarted by a four-year-old?"

"She was cute, she was innocent, and she looked like good food!" Vincent snapped. Cyborg smirked.

"What about Diamond?"

Vincent's voice threateningly lowered. "That is none of your business," he snarled.

Cyborg shrugged. "Okay, so it ain't. Wanna go back out and tease Elk some more then?"

"Elke," Vincent corrected. "Elk_a_, Americanized."

"Whatever, all I know is that they're takin' up the main floor that has my GameStation." Cyborg clapped his hands. "So, let's go back out there before the talkin' turns cold, eh?"

Vincent shrugged. "Go ahead. I'll just sit here. _Away _from Robin."


	7. Out On The Town

Chapter Seven

"Out On The Town"

* * *

"So, all of their strengths, none of their weaknesses?"

"Almost." Elke said. "Don't let the movies deceive you. I only withstand sunlight for approximately twelve hours."

Beast Boy grinned. "So you look pretty much human, right?"

Elke shrugged. "I do, but I feel awkward among other humans. I am unlike them, and while I am also unlike my vampire family, I feel closer to them somehow." She played absently with her hair. "So are the questions done, Masked Crusader?"

Robin sighed. "First of all, it's Robin. Secondly, yes, you're done for now."

Cyborg and Vincent reappeared, Vincent standing relatively straight, but still clinging protectively to his side. Starfire smiled, seeing that Vincent was no longer bleeding when he hid the wound. Elke jumped up and tried to hug Vincent, and Vincent stepped out of the way.

"Oh, you're so cruel to your liebschen!" she whined.

"Tell it to someone who cares." Vincent sighed. Vanessa smacked him over the head, and he looked at her, complaining, "What the hell did I do!"

Vanessa poked his cheek. "You wouldn't treat _me _that way, so don't start that shit with Elke. Strobe lights are on twenty-four-seven call, my friend." Vincent gave her a disappointed, slightly angered glare. Vanessa stretched her arms.

"Hey, you know, we need a break from all this interrogation. There's a nightclub downtown from here that's supposed to have a really great teen-party-rave thing for the rest of this week. What do you say we go give it a check-out?"

Vincent heard the word "Nightclub" and his eyes suddenly shimmered with the opportunity of a fresh meal. The Titans exchanged glances, having caught this, and they gave him a wary stare. Vincent immediately tried to cover his thirst.

"What?" he denied with a shrug. "I like nightclubs too..."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cyborg drove the team up in the T-Car, while Robin used his motorcycle and Beast Boy had a newly-bought, working "B-Ped" in his possession. Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and Elke were in the car. When they pulled up to the nightclub that was booming and raving in party mode, Elke was the first to step out of the car, a bit scantily dressed. She looked at the hood of the T-Car and purred,

"Did you have a fun ride, Vincent?"

The bat form of Vincent, eyes wide, was traumatized and clinging for dear life to the windshield wipers of the T-Car, shaking in absolute fear. Vincent quickly morphed to human form and glared at Elke, hissing. She sighed.

"You could have sat next to me, liebschen..."

"GET. AWAY." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "If you had not so persistently _clung _to me and _begged _me in seven languages to sit with you, I would not have horrified myself on the hood of this maniacal car!" He held up his hands, whining. "God Almighty! My claws are still shaking!"

"Let's just be happy I didn't wipe you straight off," Cyborg said, "You were kind of blocking my view sometimes."

Vincent whirled around and gave him a panic-stricken look. "I was at the mercy of accelerated winds! What would _you _do?"

Beast Boy parked his moped, and the T-Car was also put in a proper makeshift parking space. All used vehicles were put into one spot. The team gathered up, with Elke clinging to Vincent's arm. Vincent continued to glance pleadingly at Vanessa for help, but she turned her head and didn't give him the time of day. Vanessa was dressed in her nightclub clothing, and not her superhero outfit: she was in a low-cut, black midriff top with ¾ sleeves and form-fitting jeans with inch-high platform heels. Everyone else was dressed as is, except for Elke's slight wardrobe change (what she was wearing under her "invader" outfit).

The Titans were quickly invited into the club, and booming bass music blasted from the speakers. The dance floor was crowded with throngs of different "groups"—every so often, there were some empty spots. Vincent grinned and licked his lips, and Vanessa smacked him.

"Uh-uh. We're taking shifts watching you, smartass."

"But—!" Vincent looked at her with wide eyes. "How can you! The...They...I...food!"

"Exactly, and we don't want you becoming a suckhead while we're around." Vanessa growled. "So keep it bite-free and PG-13." She jammed Vincent with her elbow in his non-injured side, and Vincent sneered.

"I never _slept _with my food. That's disgusting." he hissed. Vanessa smirked.

"Well, you tried to bite _me_..."

Elke blinked, the comment going over her head as Vincent turned the other way, cheeks turning furiously red. Cyborg patted Vanessa on the back.

"Come on, give him a break and let's go have some fun! Dancing's a-waitin', baby!"

"I think I will go stand by the drinks and food," Elke said, finding the buffet. Raven followed her closely; she never was the dancing type. Everyone else, however, went crazy, though Robin had the first shift of watching Vincent. The two shared an angry, rivaling glare with each other, and Robin smiled.

"Getting hungry?" he asked sarcastically.

"Like you wouldn't believe." replied Vincent dryly.

"Anyone look tasty?"

"Yeah."

Robin quirked an eyebrow. "Who?"

Vincent smiled back. "You."

Robin's eyes widened and he took a few steps back, cautiously watching Vincent as the vampire sunk himself into the crowd. He didn't dance, of course, because now he was more on alert than ever. The song changed rather soon, and Elke observed Vincent from afar as Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire began their own freestyles. Starfire, apparently, was a fast learner and was entrancing quite a few male onlookers.

"Vincent will top them all, just you watch." she bragged. Raven rolled her eyes, as she didn't particularly care. Elke fixed herself a glass of punch.

"You said you were half-blooded?" asked Raven. Elke gave her a curious expression. "Earlier, I mean." she added.

"Oh, yes. Why? You are interested in Dhampirs?" prompted Elke. Raven shook her head.

"No, but...I can relate." Elke's eyebrows raised up signifigantly, and she smiled, flashing her stubby canine fangs.

"Stigmas forever." she teased. Raven smiled at that, and a rather animated discussion began between the two of them.

Meanwhile, Robin was watching Vincent from the sidelines as he approached a man slightly older than him (or rather, the man approached him and he accepted), after he'd finished dancing with a girl out on the floor. Robin had nothing against homosexuals, but it disturbed him how quickly Vincent could switch gears between the genders. In two seconds after completing a very implicative grinding session with the girl, Vincent was doing the exact same thing with an older man. Hey, as long as no bloodshed or biting was involved, Robin considered it free game.

Now, of course, Robin began to become even more worried when Vincent turned his eyes and gave him a smirk halfway across the croud. The dancing reached its peak, and Vincent became the dominant dancer with his new pair. Twisting and turning in liquidated movements, he began a dance that not only focused the eyes of his male dance partner, but the eyes of everyone else around him—regardless of sex or sexual orientation. The crowd began to cheer and whoop for him on that side, and Robin suddenly panicked, trying to keep a closer eye on Vincent. Unfortunately, the gathering crowd was making that extremely hard. Robin's eye twitched and he cursed the vampire to his grave, trying to push his way through the crowd.

By the time he had gotten to where Vincent was bewitching everyone with his freestyle grinding, the vampire was nowhere in sight, and neither was his partner. Robin only had two words to say, very silently:

"Oh, fuck."

Immediately, Robin turned and alerted the Titans. Cyborg sighed.

"He's a slippery bastard, isn't he?"

Elke grinned. "I told you, he wows the crowd."

"Apparently, enough to make a disappearing act." quipped Raven. Vanessa growled.

"He boasts his talent at the wrong places and at the wrong times," she complained. After a fast agreement, the Titans spread out through the club searching for Vincent, who was, in the meantime, making a nice hiding place for himself and his "partner" in the far back, abandoned part of the club. There were other pairs there too, of course, straight and gay, getting away from the lively dance floor at the center of the huge warehouse.

Vincent shoved the older man against the wall, and licked his lips. Teen Titans keeping him away from food? He wouldn't live to see the day. Being around this many humans was tempting enough. At least he'd picked a ripe bit of food: Spiked, short black hair, glimmering brown eyes, a dazzling smile. Everyone's typical version of a slim-muscled jock with a bad-boy, warm-hearted attitude.

Stereotypical for a meal, but at least he looks cute. Vincent twitched, Unlike that girl...who was the ugly duckling of the floor.

The black-haired teenager laughed and grinned stupidly at Vincent.

"Slow down, hot stuff." he chuckled. Vincent saw the tint of red in his cheeks, and while the man wasn't overly inebriated, he was definitely a little tipsy. That, however, was not the color of red Vincent was concentrating on. The man, whom he found had the name of Michael, ran his fingers through Vincent's hair.

"You're kind of aggressive..."

Vincent forcefully sat Michael down on a wide stack of boxes and pinned him down, only barely concealing his fangs. "Shut up," he hissed. Michael laughed.

"You like the dominant side?"

Vincent tried hard to keep himself from going straight to the cutthroat, forcing himself to enjoy the meal (the environment was giving him a painfully aching thirst) and brushing his lips over Michael's jawbone.

"I like _any _side," he growled. Michael smiled at him.

"A younger guy who switches...that I like."

Vincent glared at him. "Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Michael held his hands up quietly in slight surrender, and Vincent slowly trailed kisses down Michael's throat. All he needed was to get close to the jugular, bite him, then suck and run. A simple task. Michael was already on a different page anyway, giving small purrs for some of Vincent's kisses. Less than an inch away from his neck, Vincent unsheathed his fangs, ready to bite.

His ears picked up a clicking sound in the distance, and he paused. His eyes slowly lifted up above the boxes, and there in the doorway, he saw Robin giving him a firm, angered glare. Vincent hissed at him, baring his fangs, and mouthed, "Get the fuck away from my food."

Robin held up his hand from his crossed arms, one holding a Birdarang. From the one hand he held up, he counted on his fingers: Five, four, three...

Vincent paused only briefly before showing Robin that he was putting away his fangs before he went back to showering Michael's neck with kisses, who thankfully hadn't been to distracted from the sudden halt. Robin turned his eyes, satisfied, and not wanting to see a man on top of another man.

Fifteen minutes later, it was Starfire's turn to watch Vincent, and all she decided to do was keep him company in the corner, because Vincent had decided that after having his meal interrupted, that the entire world was just one big bitch and bastard.

"Do not be upset, Vincent," Starfire said, "There are plenty of bags of blood that Vanessa has saved for your enjoyment at the—"

"Who gives a fuck about frozen food?" Vincent snarled. "Nothing beats fresh-squeezed." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. Starfire paused before she smiled.

"Perhaps dancing shall take your mind off of your...snack?"

Vincent gave her a small smile, but it wasn't entirely heartfelt, so Starfire squeezed his hand and pointed to the dance floor. "I shall join my friends," she told him before becoming another face in the crowd. After several moments, Vincent paused and looked around; he felt a pair of eyes on him, and there was a tingling sensation up and down his spine. It was stronger than when he'd sensed Elke. A dreaded, cold fear hit him head-on in the face, and Vincent moved himself to try and blend in with the crowd.

As soon as he begun to try and dance with a random pretty girl he'd spotted, a graceful, slender-fingered hand pressed itself to his injured side, the other resting lightly on his opposite hip. Vincent froze as he felt a chilled, vampiric breath curling over his skin.

"How are you feeling?" A deep voice whispered sultrily. Vincent narrowed his eyes, and his pupils went to "cat mode". Long fingernails played with the spike-ended strands of his hair.

"Why so quiet? You didn't miss me?"

"Go away, Arkadij," Vincent snapped, "I don't want to deal with you tonight."Arkadij turned him around, and Vincent looked up into an elfin-framed face with ice-blue, red-rimmed eyes, set on a face that was framed by long, free-flowing black hair. The man, who appeared nineteen, had his hands nicely set around Vincent's waist, and he was smiling to fully reveal a set of very slim, very well-experienced fangs. His clothes included khaki cargo jeans and a midriff black shirt with ¾ sleeves, similar to Vanessa's.

"Ohhh, how come? Because your half-breed heiress is present?" Arkadij dragged Vincent out into the crowd and forced him into a close-set grind. Vincent played along stiffly, with the thought to never feed off another male again.

"No, because I'm tired of seeing your stupid face."

Arkadij tilted his head and purred. "Is that any way to treat me, Vincent?"

"Don't pet-talk me!" Vincent snapped. "You're a traitor, a smuggler and a killer! I won't ever treat you as a friend, until the day the sunlight takes my flesh!"

Arkadij suddenly grabbed a fistful of Vincent's hair and came close as they continued to grind, until they were only a nose apart.

"That can be arranged."

"Over whose dead body?" challenged Vincent. "Mine or yours?" Arkadij only smiled.

"Neither," he said calmly. "Perhaps it's not you who must perish." He ran his palm over Vincent's injury, and it began to bleed heavily. "I already left my mark on you," stated the vampire, "And I do believe one mark is enough, my ex-comrade in arms."

Vincent bared his fangs defiantly. "Lay a hand on Elke, and I will be the one to put a stake through your chest." he said in a low tone. Arkadij laughed amusingly.

"Schvibzik, was that a threat?" he teased. Vincent shoved Arkadij away.

"I am not a _Schvibzik!_" he roared.

"What seems to be the problem, Vincent?" Vanessa sauntered up beside the vampire, laying eyes on Arkadij, who was smiling without his fangs. Vanessa paused, and then she froze, eyes wide.

"You!" she said in a silent hiss. Arkadij stopped a moment, then glanced at Vincent from the corners of his eyes. Vincent hissed and tried to give a look to Vanessa to RUN.

"Vincent, isn't she that delicious little morsel you found romping the streets only a few months ago?"

Vincent grabbed Vanessa's arm forcefully and glared at him.

"Yes, and she was so delicious, I decided to prolong her existence for my enjoyment."

"WHAT!" shrieked Vanessa. Vincent kicked her in the backs of her legs and flashed her his fangs, in such a way that Vanessa was extremely startled.

"Shut up! You'll talk when you're spoken to!"

"Like hell!" Vanessa snapped. Vincent yanked on her arm and gave her another warning hiss.

Arkadij sighed and shook his head. His eyes had a mockery of pain and disappointment. "Vincent, Vincent, Vincent...after everything you've been taught, you still insist the humans are beyond a cattle's source of food?"

Vanessa gave Arkadij a defying stare. "At least he can do more than suck and leave his prey to die, you heartless son of a bitch!"

"_Vanessa!_" snapped Vincent, and Vanessa glared at him. Arkadij had a quick smile on his face, but it turned to a brooding frown.

"She's quite a fighter. Sadly, not much of a match for me...or even you." Vincent's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Arkadij held up a threatening pointer finger, holding it at eye level.

"You made a mistake to allow her to live. You made another when you abandoned our homeland. Now you've made a third by sealing the fate of you, and whatever groupies you have kissing your shadow."

Vincent saw Arkadij's fangs being exposed, and he showed his own again. A vampire's contest of testosterone: Who has the better fangs?

"I wouldn't let you lay a hand on any of them," Vincent growled. Arkadij smirked.

"Is that so?" he sneered, giving Vincent a jeering expression. "Then you'd best peel your eyes wide open, my brother. Tomorrow, the hunting begins."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Vincent cried, tackling Arkadij to the ground. Arkadij shoved him off effortlessly and was quick to run out the door. Of course, by this, eyes had turned and then gone away, except for those of the Teen Titans, Vanessa, and Elke. Vincent ran for the door, and then collapsed halfway there, clutching at his side. He hissed in pain and quickly pulled away the clothing he needed to see the bandages. They had been seared by a type of chemical. Vincent looked out the doorway, glaring.

"What the hell just happened?" Robin snapped. "And you'd better tell me now, because I heard that shout clear across the dance floor!"

Vincent stood up, with Vanessa and Elke's help, and pointed vaguely at the T-Car. The indication was that they should get back for a pow-wow—immediately.


	8. Fratricide

Chapter 8

Fratricide

* * *

"You're wiggling again." Cyborg growled. "This is like, the twentieth time I've told you. Sit still and bite the bullet. Goes faster that way."

"Just...shut up and bandage me." Vincent mumbled. Vanessa, Starfire and the others all exchanged very awkward glances at each other, looking down at the vampire who was being wrapped in fresh gauze by Cyborg, everyone's current expert First-Aid Superman.

Beast Boy swung his legs impatiently, sitting on the couch a safe distance from Vincent.

"So, who was he?"

Elke's mouth opened ungraciously wide. "He was..._is_...Vincent's—YEEP!" Elke jolted and hugged her injured shin, rocking on the edge of the couch's arm. "Agh, that _hurt_!"

"He is my ENEMY." Vincent said firmly.

"Like sons of bitches normally _aren't?_" Vanessa scorned. Vincent immediately snapped his head to her and glared, the look overdosed with a condescending attitude. Vanessa held the gaze before she tore away and watched her fingers twist and untwist in odd positions.

"Sorry."

"How do you know him?" asked Robin. He was perched on an opposite couch from them, his knee bouncing up and down rapidly. He was getting extremely twitchy; it was this entire onslaught of new surroundings, new happenings, new enemies...this was far too much in one day, and the stress was starting to grate against his nerves, barely strung together to hold.

Vincent quickly jerked away from Cyborg when the bandaging was done, and withdrew within himself, his eyes dulled. Cyborg snorted.

"Thank you, Cyborg!" he blurted, following up with, "Oh. You're welcome, Vincent."

"I'll ask again. He's your enemy. How do you know him?" Robin pressed. He didn't enjoy sawing harder at the tension that was hanging in the air, but he was very hard-pressed for answers, as it seemed even more crucial than ever now that they get to the bottom of this. Soon.

When Vincent didn't answer, pain reflecting in his eyes, Raven leaned on the back of the couch and Cyborg sat on the other side of him. Elke was looking over her shoulder angrily as she attended to soothing the pain in her shin.

Vanessa finally ducked her head down as she rolled her eyes, groaning. "That's it," she declared. "If _you_ don't tell them, Alex, _I_ will."

Vincent's pupils shrunk as he stared at her. "You wouldn't!" Vanessa met her eyes with his, never breaking away.

"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Dumbstruck, Vincent only stared ahead at her. Vanessa sighed. Have it your way, she thought.

"Okay, the story is this. The man who attacked Vincent was—"

"Please!" Vincent suddenly cried. Vanessa crossed her arms expectantly as Vincent rubbed his arm for a bit of warmth. It was hard to get heat when your temperature was naturally low.

"It's...It's a burden I carry alone. I'll tell the tale." He swallowed the dry lump gathering in his throat and breathed in sharply, his frozen heart digging through his chest for the courage he would need to explain himself to the Teen Titans. Vincent felt a hand overlapping his, the human warmth seeping into his pores. He squeezed Vanessa's hand and finally spoke.

"He's...my...brother."

* * *

Arkadij drummed the eraser end of his pencil against his paper, covered in graceful cursive scribbles of Russian and scattered mathematical calculations across the lines and margins. He watched the Bunsen burner in front of him faithfully, the fire reflecting in his bottomless pools for eyes. This was a chemical he had been testing for months, often ending up in scorched gums and weeks of putting off another test. If it didn't work this time, he was going to bleed himself to death and never feed again. The frustration was mounting, and it enraged him to no end.

The well-experienced vampire sighed and picked up a coffee mug with the Gregorovich insignia frosted on its cylinder in gold, and sipped from it a red, thick, warm liquid. He glanced into a very dark room connected to his laboratory, where he saw gleaming in the moonlight the pale skin of his captive. Nearly naked and chained at the wrists, her ribs protruded against her sides and her cheeks had sunken into her face. She was long since dead; Arkadij tasted it in her blood. He would have to hurry and finish this mug, or the red liquid of life would begin to coagulate.

"Damn you...finish up!" Arkadij flipped through some of his research notes as he waited, until he heard bubbling coming from the beaker. He instantly set down his notes and snatched the beaker off the burner, turning the heated contraption to the OFF position and pouring a generous amount of the bubbling concoction into a test tube. It was a disgusting, oily-looking fluid, greenish-brown in color. It wasn't the most pleasant, but if it was effective on what he intended to test, Arkadij would be more than satisfied and would sacrifice anything to use it. He picked up a dropper, sucking up the disgusting vinegar-like substance. Arkadij rested the test tube in a rack with several rows of its brothers and sisters, all filled to the brim with alien liquids, some solidified for reasons unknown. Others had disintegrated to a white or blue powder.

Taking precautions, Arkadij covered his lower lip and what he had to of his tongue in fresh gauze, and tilted his head back. He pressed the tip of the dropper against a single fang as it unsheathed, and soaked it with three drops of the costic experiment. The color faded, blending with his fangs as it became absorbed. Now, the ultimate test. Arkadij removed the gauze and licked the very tip of that fang, grazing his tongue. He waited five seconds.

No burning. No pain.

Arkadij grinned, smugly proud of his own success. "I'm brilliant," he said aloud, congratulating himself as he repeated the process with his other fang and safely tucked them away from obvious view.

"Now...who to test this on?" Arkadij looked again at the woman who had been his last...oh, ten or twelve meals.

"Pity." he scoffed. "I _was_ intending to use you...but, apparently," and his smile broadened as he said this, "You were just _dying_ to feed me." He laughed amusingly at his own pathetic pun, and began to pace the room as he thought. He knew that he wanted to use one of Vincent's little friends...but the question was...which one?

Arkadij thought of this for a while, until he figured he may as well dig a ditch into the floor. Then he stopped, and his icy eyes lit up with a new idea, and he bared his fangs in a personal accomplishment. The girl...that red-headed one. Hadn't she been holding Vincent's hand?

* * *

Vincent's face fell into the palms of his hands; he hid his face in shame. The room had already been so silent a bird's flight could be heard outside the window; even as the words were spoken barely above a whisper, eyes widened and shock ran through everyone's minds. Starfire gasped; Elke bowed her head, sharing Vincent's inner pain. But out of those who hadn't heard the story, as the only one who had suffered unnecessary details to hear it, Cyborg was stunned most of all. It was voiced quite clearly.

"But...those things he taught you...the games he played..."

"All lost." choked Vincent. "Everything."

Cyborg's expression darkened. "Then...he's...?"

"My enemy." Vincent said. He looked up, and his eyes seemed to be so much different. They were unusually bright, glowing with a certain quality that wasn't normally there. "And yours, as well."

Beast Boy scratched at his elbows. He felt bad all of a sudden. Why did _he_ have to ask the question first? Sighing, Vincent took another deep breath.

"_Arkadij Konstantine Gregorovich_...born December 16th, 1199. The boldest and newest heir to the high-ranking class of our society...to represent the family line." Eyes bugged out across the room once more.

"1199," Robin breathed. "How strong does that make him?" He was afraid to ask. But he had to say it.

Vincent shifted uncomfortably. "An expert hunter, a swift killer...a tactical genius. And a master of chemicals." Vincent gestured weakly to his wound. "You can see that rather plainly. It is how he re-opened my wound."

"Which he inflicted on you in the first place." Raven assumed. The vampire nodded his head gravely, blinking his eyes several times.

"I...I'm not sure if we should go against him." he admitted. Robin straightened.

"He's a threat to the city." he argued. "Obviously, to you too. What do you mean, we shouldn't go up against him?"

"He's just over 800 years old, Robin." Vincent explained. "His skills are unsurpassed by any of the newborn brethren in our clan. Even the elders have struggled in the annual contests we hold."

"Contests?" Starfire wondered.

"Who can feed on the most humans in a single night." Vincent admitted, wincing. "It is a brutal thing. A darker side to our family most would rather never mention. But, in Russia, it's what you would call a Public Secret." His head hung low again. "Arkadij...he is no ordinary vampire. His brains are amazing. His strength is magnificent. He's honed each and every one of his skills to top perfection, and they haven't faltered ever since..." Vincent swallowed. "He's..."

He stopped at the start of the next sentence. Vanessa looked at him, then at the others, and reclined against the back of the couch.

"Let's sleep on this." she suggested. "Everyone seems to be pretty tired, and we all need the rest. We'll discuss it in the morning."

"This is..._insane_." Beast Boy said, scoffing. "We've never had a guy like this in our city before." He looked at Robin. "Heck, even _Slade_ wasn't this bad."

"_Slade is **not** involved_." Robin snarled, his eyes narrowing. "This is a _vampire_ we're talking about. One that is obviously a sociopathic killer, and one who must be stopped as soon as possible."

"Try not to think about it, Masked One." Elke said sullenly. "Sometimes, when the fear is strong enough, it's as if that man can read your thoughts."

"Elke..." Vincent turned his eyes to her. She smiled, though a bit forcefully.

"I've suffered through his madness, too, liebschen. Don't you remember that dinner party your father hosted so long ago?"

Vincent paused as he tried to pull it from his memory banks. He scrunched his brow. It was vague, but...

"You mean, when he described his latest project in detail?"

"It disgusted me." Elke grumbled, shuddering. "He truly is a twisted man, your brother."

Vincent looked down at his open hand.

"My brother died the day I celebrated my birthday fifty years ago."


End file.
